


The Choir

by tezzysaurus



Category: B.A.P, NCT (Band), SONAMOO (Band), Secret (Korea Band), TRCNG (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Horror, F/F, Horror, M/M, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content in later chapters, Thriller, Violence, other minor mentions of members from other groups
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-09 02:09:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16441001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tezzysaurus/pseuds/tezzysaurus
Summary: When Kim Kangmin was offered a scholarship to join the most famous academy in the country, he never expected to find out what truly went on behind closed doors.





	1. Part One: Allegro – Chapter 1: Andante

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he enrolled into the Academy, Kangmin had no idea what he was about to get himself in to

As the car moved, the trees turned into seas of green and the buildings blurs of red, brown and white shades. The only focus was any structure the boy could eye in the far distance, a stand still from different angles until the vehicle went too far passed. 

Kangmin was nervous, needless to say, as his first day of class was a mere couple of days away and he was moving away from his parents and into the dorms. It was happening. The boy sat in the hopes of the friends he might make and the experiences he might have, sighing happily at the possibilities as music went through one ear and out of the other. 

“Would people even like a scholar kid?” he thought out loud, watching his mother quickly shift in the front seat, turning to grab her son’s hand and giving him a gentle, reassuring squeeze. 

“You’ll be fine honey,” she spoke softly, rubbing her thumb over the skin of his hand. “I’m sure they’ll love you.”

“I hope so,” Kangmin responded, pulling his hand back to comfortably stare out of the window, chewing on the inside of his lip. 

The car pulled up to the entrance to where he’d be staying for the next three years or so. His parents hopped out of the car to grab his bags, handing them to the boy. He gave his parents a big hug before leaving to get settled. 

He wandered to the front reception, looking for any sort of map or member of staff that could help. No one seemed to be around. He peeked over the circular desk, seeing it untouched, the phones flashing to indicate voicemails and the computers left off. 

_Tap, tap_. He felt the quick taps on his left shoulder, turning around to see the source, a man significantly taller than him with a warm smile and scrunched up eyes, a mole sat under his left eye. His hair was a dark shade of brown which fell just passed his ears.

“Uh, hi,” Kangmin greeted, swallowing harshly as he tried to smile back, awkwardly. 

“Lost little puppy?” the man greeted, Kangmin jumping at the slightly louder volume than he expected. “I’m Jung Daehyun, third and final year here.”

“Kim Kangmin, first year.” The boy held out his hand and received a firm handshake in return. 

“Nice to meet you Kangmin, let me guide you to your-“

“Jesus, Daehyun,” the pair heard a voice from behind Daehyun with footsteps getting louder, “you aren’t wearing your sash.” Kangmin noticed a man with black hair falling about the same length as Daehyun with slightly squishier cheeks and a tiny bit shorter than the other man. 

“Sorry baby, it kept slipping off,” Daehyun turned to the man, ruffling his hair. 

“No, sorry doesn’t cut it, you could scare the newbies half to death.”

Kangmin glanced at the bright blue sash that read _guide_ before he turned to the face before him. 

“I’m Yoo Youngjae, you must be the scholarship kid,” he held out his hand and Kangmin received his second handshake of the day. He could tell, _this was going to be a thing._

“Sorry, how do you know me?” Kangmin asked. Youngjae flashed the boy a knowing smile.

“I know everyone in this place. Now, let’s show you around.”

The couple began the tour around the reception area and one of the cafeterias, showing him the menu of the day before leading him back to the entrance. 

“Your meals are apart of your tuition fees, or in your case,” Youngjae turned to the younger, “automatically paid for.” 

Once Kangmin was led by the couple out of the building and onto the main campus, he marvelled at the size of it. He could see how all the three-story buildings were in a square with picnic tables dotted in the middle. The buildings held age to them with big doors at the front of each one. He was taken through one of the gaps between the buildings to the back where there was another big old building, this was longer than the others with a lot of windows. Kangmin assumed this was the dormitory. 

“Everyone who attends here, stays here,” Daehyun explained, “you’ll be given a room to share with someone else until after choir try outs.”

Kangmin looked at Daehyun confused, “what happens at choir try outs?” Kangmin asked.

“We see who has real talent, who _really_ deserves to be here,” Youngjae responded, wrapping an arm around Daehyun’s shoulder before pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

The trio entered the dorms, walking over to the main desk. Daehyun tapped the receptionist on the shoulder, flashing her a smile as she handed him a name chart.

“21a,” Daehyun read, “just down the hall,” he handed the chart back to the woman before leading the other two down to Kangmin’s room. It had two name tags by the side of the door, his and another’s. 

Kangmin opened the door to find a boy already sat on one of the beds. He had dark brown hair and a sharp nose. He watched the other boy turn his head towards the door, a smile beginning to creep up on his face. Kangmin couldn’t help but smile back. 

“You must be Kangmin, I’m Huang Renjun,” the boy held out his hand, that smile still plastered on his face as he brought the boy in for a hug. 

“We’ll leave you two to get acquainted, the group tour is at 2pm,” Youngjae informed before pulling Daehyun away and shutting the door. 

“So, scholarship huh? You must be pretty smart,” Renjun commented, sitting back on his bed. Kangmin sat on the other bed, pulling his bags on beside him, letting out a small sigh.

“Does everyone know who I am?”

“Everyone knows everyone, we’re rich, we’re big names among ourselves,” Renjun told the other, grinning. “It’s the duty of the next generation to know any possible clients and business partners. If our parents introduce us to them, we have to remember.”

Kangmin’s mouth formed an o shape, nodding slowly in response. The two continued their conversation, getting to know their roommate fondly, discovering familiar likes and dislikes. They were both music majors, they’d be having classes together.

“What will you be focusing on?” Kangmin asked, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m not sure,” Renjun answered honestly, “maybe composition.”

“Oh really?” Kangmin smiled widely in response, “me too!” The boy couldn’t help but feel excited, he was practically bouncing, earning him a chuckle from the other boy. He learned that Renjun was from China, hailing from a technology cooperation that had business partners in Seoul, he’d been back and forth for years. He explained he came to study music so one day he could start his own company in Seoul. Kangmin admired his ethic. 

He also learned it was safe to assume everyone probably spoke at least two languages. 

2pm soon came by and the pair were already waiting with the rapidly growing crowd to be shown around their new school grounds. Among what Kangmin assumed were the older students, were Daehyun and Youngjae standing with two other male students. One towered over the small group, the other stood slightly smaller than the couple. 

“You know,” Renjun started, making Kangmin jump, “you look kind of similar to Choi Junhong, I’m surprised the two of you aren’t related.” Kangmin looked to the other in minor confusion. “The taller one.” The other nodded quickly, admiring his features. He couldn’t tell if there was a resemblance, but, he’d sure take it as a compliment. He also noticed the smaller male wrapping his arm around Junhong’s waist.

“Thank you Renjun,” Kangmin said shyly, flashing him a small smile. “But,” he started, “how am I gonna remember…anyone?” 

“You learn by association, this person knows this person and so on,” the boy received a gentle pat on the shoulder.

The tour quickly began. The hallway, they were informed, diverged two different ways, which Kangmin never noticed previously. They were told the left was the girls’ dorm and the right were the boys’ respectively. There was also a wide staircase that led up to extra rooms, including where they would wash and dry their own clothes. Kangmin could already feel himself getting lost in the explanation. In the back of the dormitory was another cafeteria, dubbed by some as the breakfast cafeteria. Kangmin noticed the ceiling was quite high with an open kitchen in the back of the crowds of tables. A set menu, three times a day, changed daily. 

“Breakfast is from 6am until 10am, lunch from 12 until 3 and dinner from 5 until 10,” they were told. 

“What if we want snacks?” Kangmin heard a voice in the crowd ask.

“There’s school shops and vending machines located on the campus,” an older student responded. 

Next, they were taken out into the campus with the picnic tables Kangmin noticed previously. The building nearest the dormitory was a three-floor library, which Kangmin thought was impressive in size and imagined the vast range of books inside. He was excited to get in there. 

“Everyone over the next week will register for a library card during one of their sessions, a professor will take you,” they were informed. “You will need to take this card to check out books or use the computers.”

“Though most people will have their own laptops,” Renjun whispered to the other boy.

The next place they were taken to, was the dance department. The three-story building was, according to the older students, the most modern inside. They were taken around a floor of dance practice rooms and a gym at the end of the first floor. The second and third floor contained normal classrooms with supply closets at the end of each hall nearest the library. 

Then they were taken to the acting department, time working their way from the top floor down. The top floor was filled with computers and storage rooms, which Kangmin could see, had big lights and cameras neatly packed away on shelves. The second floor had regular looking classrooms and the bottom floor had practice rooms like the dance department. 

Between the acting and the music department, was a huge auditorium. Kangmin thought it was as big as a concert hall. 

“This is where they hold semester assessments,” Renjun told Kangmin, “I’ve attended some of them, quite the spectacle.”

They were then led into the music department, which would be where Kangmin could see himself spending a lot of time for the next three years. The first floor contained practice rooms with musical stands and closets where instruments were kept. The second floor contained recording booths and computers with keyboards attached to them for composition and the third floor contained regular looking classrooms. Honestly, Kangmin couldn’t wait to get into class and learn. He was bouncing in his step.

The group slowly dispersed, with Kangmin and Renjun heading back towards the dorms. 

“Bet this place is great at night,” Renjun commented, grinning to the other boy.

“Sounds creepy,” Kangmin responded, pressing his lips together.

“One day, we’ll wandered these halls at night, I promise I’ll be there to make sure you don’t get too scared,” Renjun nudged the other boy, leading him to grab some food. The pair sat down with their trays on one of the many tables and digging into their meals. “Someone’s popular.”

“Huh?” Kangmin looked up from Renjun to take a break from his food. The boy nodded over behind Kangmin, pointing his finger slightly so not to raise suspicion. The boy turned around to see a group of girls, chatting away, no doubt sharing their stories of the summer. Kangmin found himself drawn to the girl with black hair falling half way down her back, she held a knowing smile before catching Kangmin’s eye and holding eye contact, smirk only getting more obvious. Kangmin quickly turned back to Renjun, digging back into his food.

“Hate to break it to you, she’s taken.”

“Who?” Kangmin responded. 

“Kim Nahyun, the girl you were staring at,” Renjun gently tapped Kangmin’s head. “Don’t worry, I get it, she’s stunning. There’s no wonder she’s already a TV star.”

“She is?” Kangmin glanced back over to her before humming in response, “I think I’ve seen my mum watching something with her in before.”

“Her dad is the CEO of a talent agency, specialising in acting, she’ll take over one day,” Renjun responded, smiling at the other boy. “Speak of the devil.”

“Hey,” Nahyun said, kneeling by Kangmin’s side of the table, “scholarship kid, right?” Kangmin nodded quickly. “Cute, I’m Kim Nahyun, though I’m sure your friend already told you that,” she glanced over to Renjun, raising an eyebrow. 

“Kim Kangmin,” the boy introduced himself, smiling nervously.

“Aww,” Nahyun cooed, taking Kangmin’s hand and giving him a reassuring squeeze, “keep your wits about you Kangmin, okay?” She stood up and ruffled the boy’s hair before returning to her group. Renjun pointing to her, tilting his head. Kangmin shrugged in response. 

The two ended up walking back to their dorm, settling onto their beds and watching a movie on their shared TV. 

“So, Kim Nahyun, hey?” Renjun teased. Kangmin groaned in response, burying his face into a pillow. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kangmin said, muffled by his pillow.

“It’s okay, I was like that when I first saw her too,” Renjun chuckled, leaning against his pillows behind his head.

 

~

 

The two boys decided to spend their second free day wondering around their campus again, keeping to themselves but greeting anyone who passed. Kangmin was right, he was ‘the scholarship kid’, he was starting to hate the sound of it.

“Is it because I’m the only one people have never seen before?” Kangmin asked Renjun over lunch, leaning his head in his hands and playing with his food.

“Exactly, you my friend, are fresh meat,” Renjun pointed his fork before returning to his plate. Kangmin sighed, taking a small bite out of his food. 

“Like a puppy in a pack of wolves?”

“Well you’ve got the face for it.”

“Shut up.”

“Hey you two,” Daehyun greeted, with the other three from yesterday following in his step, “we’re gathering a bunch of first years who happen to be studying music in the practice room for a jam session and suggest you come.”

“What about us?” the boy Kangmin didn’t know the name of yet asked, he was holding Junhong’s hand and leaning against his shoulder. Daehyun quickly pouted, eliciting a groan from the boy, “fine, we’ll come.”

“You know Daehyun will throw a fit if you don’t, Jongup,” Youngjae chuckled. 

“I can see your mental cogs working Kangmin,” Renjun stated, smirking at the other boy who felt a blush appearing on his face. The two didn’t have much of a choice and headed with the group to the practice room where a group had already formed of people their age waiting for this practice session to start. They sat on the floor with the others and saw two men in more professional looking clothing walk in. “Professor Bang Yongguk and Kim Himchan,” Renjun informed the other boy. Kangmin nodded, admiring the way the two professors presented themselves. The tutor with the name tag ‘Bang Yongguk’ was the tallest of the four with tanned skin and a tattoo peaking out behind his loose-fitting shirt, jeans and sneakers. The other tutor with the name tag ‘Kim Himchan’ had glasses balanced on his nose and tight-fitting suit with dress shoes. Somehow, they complimented each other.

“Are even the tutors apart of this high society club?” Kangmin whispered, causing Renjun to cover his mouth and laugh. “So that’s a yes.”

“I’m just,” Renjun laughed again, “you called it a club.”

“Well that’s what it feels like,” the other pouted.

“And you’re the honorary member?” Renjun asked. Kangmin nodded slowly. The Chinese boy pulled his arms around the Korean, patting his head. 

The room slowly filled with music students who were either stood up or sat on the floor. Kangmin felt a nudge from his other side as the taller boy next to him shuffled to make room for some of their fellow classmates.

“Sorry,” the boy said, flashing him an apologetic smile. Kangmin smiled back, shuffling closer to Renjun. 

“Okay everyone,” Daehyun spoke, “we’re going to have a small jamming out session to get to know each other better. Why don’t you get into teams of 4 or 5, come up with a cover and present it to the rest of us.”

Kangmin turned to Renjun and shrugged. It couldn’t hurt to get to know others, right? He turned to his right where the boy who nudged him previously was, sat with his friend, glancing around the classroom before turning to his left and looking at Kangmin.

“Need to group up?” the boy asked, much to Kangmin’s ease. “I’m Yang Taeseon,” he held his hand out for the smaller boy to shake. Kangmin noticed he was built bigger than him with a brown mop of hair on his hair. His eyes smiled at him.

“Kim Kangmin,” he smiled softly at the taller boy. 

“Hey Renjun, long time no see,” Taeseon said, holding out his hand and shaking the Chinese boy’s hand firmly. “When was it last? Your dad’s business party?”

“I think so,” Renjun answered, running a hand through his hair. Kangmin looked between the two boys, wanting to sink into himself slightly as he heard the pair recalling the business party fondly. He was left to twiddle his thumbs while Taeseon, Renjun and a boy he had yet to introduce himself to talked about how their families’ businesses were going and how they were set to take over for this and that. Then the conversation moved over to the jam session, finally, something Kangmin knew a decent amount about, music. The four of them demonstrated their singing abilities and chose a song around that in attempts to blend their voices together in harmonies. The remaining boy demonstrated an ability to harmonise by ear, which Kangmin wanted to learn, so they chose to move to an empty classroom with a piano. He learned his name was Choi Hayoung and he’d been friends with Taeseon and a whole group of them since a young age. He played a melody then played the same melody a couple of notes up, encouraging Kangmin to sing while Taeseon and Renjun discussed more business. When Kangmin finally grasped the idea, the room filled claps from his teammates. 

They returned back to the classroom and sat in their team, watching the groups perform one by one, with each one receiving various criticisms. It was finally their turn to perform, singing their chosen song and ending with a big finish, Kangmin held eyes with Renjun, occasionally turning to their audience then returning his sight back to his friend. 

“You’re a fast learner Kangmin,” Professor Bang Yongguk (as read by his name tag) stated, flashing a grin in his direction, “that will certainly come in handy.”

“I can tell your harmonies still need work Kangmin,” Professor Kim Himchan pointed out, “but as Yongguk said, it’s definitely an improvement from what I heard earlier.”

Kangmin beamed at the comments. “I’ll do my best,” he said, bowing to his teachers. The three boys gave the smallest a tight squeeze before returning back into the crowd and sitting down, listening to the rest of the groups. They kept to small conversations about their interests, learning that Taeseon had a big interest in fashion and offered to take him clothes shopping one weekend while Hayoung studied abroad and offered to help Kangmin learn English some time. Kangmin was happy he was beginning to make more friends.

 

~

 

When the next day rolled around, Kangmin was up bright and early and practically buzzing with excitement. 

“What are you,” Renjun started, rubbing a towel of his hair as he left the bathroom, “a bee?” 

“I'm excited,” Kangmin pouted, twiddling his thumbs. He'd wanted to study here since he heard of the scholarship programs they offered. Hearing how hard it was to get in just made him even more excited. 

“You're like a kicked puppy,” Reniun sat across from him, throwing his towel over his shoulder. “I'm sorry, as soon as I dry my hair, we'll head up.” 

Kangmin started bouncing again, triple checking his rucksack. When they had gotten back from their jam session the previous evening, an envelope had been left for each other them with a time table contained inside. Since the two boys were studying the same subjects, Kangmin felt like he didn’t have to worry about losing his way around this place. However, a couple of subjects failed to cross over but he was sure he'd make quick friends in those classes. 

The pair soon headed off to their first lecture of the year, music theory with Professor Kim Himchan. Kangmin knew, if he was going to get better at composing music, he'd need to know how it works. He sat next to his roommate, watching the room slowly fill up while making light conversation, watching Renjun doodle over the cover of his notebook, leaning his head on the Chinese boy’s shoulder. He watched Hayoung and Taeseon enter and waved them over eagerly, receiving pleasant smiles from both of the taller males who took seats near the pair. 

Professor Himchan made his way in once the classroom was mostly full, placing his planner down and running his glasses up his nose. Kangmin wondered what a man so handsome was doing teaching music theory. He hummed in thought, making Renjun look at him, tilting his head, causing the other boy to shrug in response. 

He began with the basics, making sure everyone had a grasp on their treble and bass clef and how to read music. Kangmin studied in his spare time so he had a basic grasp, though sometimes he would falter. Next, Himchan went through time signatures, making sure everyone had an idea of what the most commonly used ones sounded like. Hayoung gave a demonstration upon being asked by the professor. Kangmin watched in awe, he wished for that confidence. The lesson went on, with the professor handing out special notebooks with music paper in them, letting them know to keep them on their person at all times. Kangmin neatly wrote his name on the inside corner of his, grinning at Renjun, who copied him. They got told to copy short melodies off the board and analyse them, Kangmin trying his best but having to ask his new found friends for assistance whenever he couldn't explain something technically. As class was coming to a close and all the students were packing their belongings into their bags, the professor informed the class of their first extra curricular activity. 

“Now everyone, I hope you're all aware the choir auditions are this Saturday,” Professor Himchan announced. Kangmin looked between his friends in confusion, watching all their eyes light up. Before Kangmin could ask, the professor continued, “as you know, it's mandatory for music students. However, every student who attends is allowed to audition for our choir. The process will be supervised by the 2nd and 3rd years. I wish you all the best of luck.” 

And with that, class ended. 

Kangmin was still as confused as when he first heard the announcement. “What's so great about the choir?” he asked, glancing between the familiar faces. Hayoung let out an immediate laugh before Taeseon covered his mouth. 

“It’s a rite of passage here,” Taeseon explained gently. 

“It can mean not inheriting your parents’ fortune in some families,” Renjun added, eyeing up Taeseon before flashing Kangmin a smile. 

“Isn't that...a bit extreme?” Kangmin responded, tilting his head in confusion, narrowing his eyes. “It's just music.” 

“Of course,” Taeseon responded quickly, watching Hayoung look between the other two before flashing Kangmin an awkward smile. “It's just more convenient for some to decide that way.” 

“Based on musical talent?” Kangmin asked, “I'm surprised you.. fancy folk find that so...desirable.” 

“Well,” Hayoung finally interjected, “considering my family works in producing music, it would definitely be desirable for me to succeed, no?” 

Ohh. Kangmin got it now. But what about Renjun? Kangmin guessed it was something to do with entertaining the guests. He shrugged. 

Their next class was Professor Bang Yongguk's on music composition. Kangmin was glad to have two classes that went hand in hand right after each other. Professor Yongguk brought Youngjae in to help demonstrate by playing his compositions from the year previous. He explained the best way to work would be to start with the melody, so Kangmin broke down some cords and worked with them. He spent half an hour, humming something to himself, finding the notes on the keyboard in front of him and working back and forth. 

He felt his headphones leave his ears before watching Taeseon press play. He watched his face, deep in thought before he passed his headphones back. “You need to show this to the professor,” he told the smaller boy. 

“But, it's not finished,” Kangmin responded, biting his lip. He felt another figure behind him before Hayoung grabbed his notebook and hummed the melody before him. 

“If you don't,” Hayoung warned Kangmin, “then I will.” 

“What do you think?” Kangmin turned to Renjun, handing him his notebook. Renjun’s lips twisted, reading over the page. He could see the boy pressing down imaginary keys as he went before handing the notebook back. 

“That's up to you, but, I think you should,” he told the Korean boy. Kangmin, after receiving at not so gentle shove from Hayoung, slowly paced his way over to the Professor, who he could hear having a friendly conversation with Youngjae. 

“So, you sure worked hard over the summer,” the professor commented, smiling at the student as he took his headphones off. 

“What can I say,’ Youngjae started, “I always work hard for my favourite professor,” he chuckled, turning to see Kangmin, holding his notebook to his chest. “Kangminnie, need some help?” 

“An opinion or two would be nice?” Kangmin smiled nervously, passing his notebook to Youngjae, who presented it to the professor to look over. He watched the way the two were figuring it out, silently, yet harmoniously. He watched Youngjae pass his pencil over to the professor before he started making light notes on the page. 

Yongguk turned to Kangmin, “I think by starting in common time you're restricting yourself,” he explained, “if you change to 6/8 perhaps, it might work better. I've also scribbled on where certain cadances you're trying to achieve, don't quite work. Try adding a couple more notes then it'll come together.” Kangmin nodded as the professor spoke before receiving his notebook back and glancing over the scribbles. They all made sense. He smiled bright before bowing and taking a silent exit, leaving the older student and professor to continue their chat. 

“Someone seems happier, lemme see,” Hayoung said, holding his hands out. Kangmin passed his piece over, watching the boy nod in agreement before giving it back and giving the smaller boy a thumbs up. 

Lunch time soon rolled around and the four boys split ways. Kangmin watched as Taeseon gathered up 9 other boys, including Hayoung before making sure they all had food. He smiled to himself before Renjun tapped his shoulder and led him to a seat. 

Kangmin then had a free lesson, whereas Renjun did not. He sat around the cafeteria, humming to himself, scribbling in his notebook, when he saw a familiar face sit across from him.

“Already working hard I take it?” Nahyun flashed the younger boy a smile, leaning her head in both of her hands. “Can’t have you being all by yourself, now can we?”

“I guess not,” Kangmin let out a nervous laugh, closing up his notebook and putting it in his bag.

“Walk with me?” Nahyun asked, standing up and holding his hand out. Kangmin accepted, taking her hand before she brought him closer and wrapped her arm around his, humming a tune to herself that Kangmin could swear he’d heard on the radio. She led him all over the campus, clearly in search of something. “Aha! Found you!” She shouted loudly, waving at another girl who Kangmin had seen before. “Meet us at the park!” 

Park? They were leaving campus? Is that allowed? Kangmin blindly let himself get pulled along by Nahyun outside of the academy gates and just down the road, still dawning their uniforms as she placed him on one of the swings, sitting next to him and letting herself swing back and forth while giggling. He began to join her, watching as the merry-go-round spin around in the wind. 

“Fun right?” she said while going up, “it’s nice to take a break from all the formalities in there.”

“I never noticed this was so close by,” Kangmin commented, swinging back. The two swung in silence, as the younger boy could tell his upperclassman was enjoying a time out from being who she was.

“You’re like a breath of fresh air Kangmin,” Nahyun sighed, bringing herself to a slow but steady stop, “you don’t know anyone, their reputation, their legacy,” she continued, watching the younger boy bring himself to a halt, looking at her in confusion, “it makes you easier to trust, please never change.”

Before Kangmin could say anything, Nahyun was waving over the girl she’d shouted to earlier. The girl had brown hair falling past her chest. Kangmin learned her name was Eunae and when she pressed a kiss to Nahyun’s forehead, it didn’t take him much to work out she was her girlfriend. He learned that Eunae was the daughter of the CEO of another acting company that merged with Nahyun’s fathers and that she has also since made her on screen debut, though Eunae said she prefers the theatre, which is what she’s specialising in at school, unlike Nahyun who is working on cinematography. The three of them span around the merry-go-around before chasing each other up and down the slides. Nahyun also took time out while Eunae and Kangmin pushed themselves up and down on the see saw before Nahyun tried to sit in the middle and nearly fell off in the process. 

“Oh shit,” Nahyun said, “it’s time for Japanese, guess we gotta go Kangmin.”

“We?” Kangmin asked, tilting his head. 

“Yes we, come on, I’ll see you in the dorms babe,” she kissed Eunae’s cheek before dragging Kangmin back onto campus and into the acting block. Once they had reached the top floor, Kangmin sat down while Nahyun waited at the front, flicking through the pieces of paper on the teacher’s desk before nodding to herself and smiling brightly at Kangmin. A couple of other students phased in slowly while Nahyun stood at the front waiting.

“Wait,” Kangmin spoke, “you’re the teacher?” he asked, shocked. Nahyun covered her mouth.

“That’s how it works here,” she explained, sitting on his desk. “If the teachers deem you ready, you’ll be given special circumstances to teach a subject. Mine just _happens_ to be Japanese.” Kangmin nodded while Nahyun placed a couple of pieces of paper in front of him and winked before she went around placing them on other tables. “Please sit near the front,” she asked students, “we’re only a small class.”

He was surprised how good Nahyun was a teacher, breaking every set of characters down and making sure everyone had a small grasp before moving on to the next. She told the class she wanted everyone to have memorised them by their next lesson before moving onto the next sets. 

And with that Kangmin had finished his first day. He wandered back to his dorm, dropping his bag off and taking part of his uniform off while waiting for Renjun to show up. He ended up listening to music while reading over his notes from Nahyun’s class, when he felt one of his earbuds get pulled out and proceeded to talk with Renjun about how their days went. 

 

~

 

The second day proceeded about the same as the first, with his classes in a different order. The Wednesday continued that trend, minus the music theory with a double in composition. Thursday, when Renjun had a full day of classes and Kangmin had none, was when Hayoung and Taeseon decided to drag Kangmin to their friends’ dance practice, apparently all years were welcome to come sit in. Something about ‘getting them used to having an audience’. Kangmin couldn’t argue with that.

He sat with his two friends, watching the solos, the duos and groups alike gather together to prepare for a mini performance while the teachers stood in the corner. Taeseon began pointing out their four friends, Hakmin, Wooyeop, Hyunwoo and Hohyeon, who were stood together in a group before the shortest of the four waved at them. 

“You’ll meet them properly after, I promise,” Taeseon told Kangmin before the mock up show began. The first sets of dancers were all third years, some solos, some groups. But then, something caught Kangmin’s eye and apparently one of the dance teachers’ too. Jongup and Junhong, had apparently decided to perform a duo. Strange. Wasn’t Junhong in the year below? Was this even allowed.

“Why am I not surprised?” Hayoung commented, leaning his head in his hands, watching the pair in question walk to the front and get into position.

“What-“ Kangmin was about to ask a question on the former’s comment before the music began. He watched as the two men fell apart and came back together, moving around each other with careful steps before almost crashing together. Kangmin could pick out their individual styles that worked together so seamlessly as they travelled around their small stage. This wasn’t a dance they’d made up in a week. This was a dance they’d been doing for a long time. Somehow, Kangmin could practically feel the chemistry between the two as they moved as one. As their stage was ending, he felt his eyes being drawn to a third partner who wasn’t getting involved. The dance teacher who watched every tiny movement with a careful eye yet didn’t want to touch the masterpiece. He could see her eyes dancing with them, she wasn’t orchestrating this dance, but, she was still very much apart of it. She was their third partner. When the pair turned to the audience to bow, Jongup keeping a grip on Junhong’s waist, Kangmin didn’t even realise it was over until Hayoung turned to him.

“You said ‘what’ before they danced?” Hayoung questioned, grinning at Kangmin, “the two have practically been inseparable since Junhong joined last year, I saw them at the Moon’s Christmas party, Hakmin fawning over his brother while Junhong never left his side. They’ve got some weird relationship going on with Professor Jun Hyosung… but it’s not worth discussing.” Kangmin nodded, watching the pair walk towards said professor, who brought the boys into a big hug. He turned his eyes back to the performances, occasionally eyeing up the mysterious trio until they left half way through the miniature showcase. Kangmin would’ve asked if Taeseon and Hayoung’s friends hadn’t walked on stage. 

After the group had performed and the first of the first years demonstrated their dance abilities, with criticisms from the teachers, he was pulled along to be introduced to these friends of friends. He discovered Hyunwoo was a child model, Hakmin had been studying various dance styles since he could walk, or so he said himself, Wooyeop’s parents owned a coffee company which he was very excited to take over for one day and Hohyeon’s parents actually owned a music company.

They all went on to meet up with three more friends who were all studying acting, Jihun and Jisung were already established actors but were taking a break from any dramas to study, while Siwoo was the son of a clothing brand CEO who had shares in a Russian company. Kangmin fit in like a puzzle piece, he was happy. 

“Kangmin!” he heard a familiar voice shout. As he turned to the direct of the voice he found himself being tugged away. “Can I borrow you for something, real quick?” Renjun asked, looking at the Korean boy with pleading eyes. 

“Sure,” he waved his friends off as he was led back to his dorm room with Renjun. “What’s up?” Kangmin asked as he was placed down on his bed while Renjun shut the door.

“Nothing, I just wanted to spent some time with you,” the Chinese boy responded, holding Kangmin’s hand. 

“You could’ve just…asked?” Kangmin suggested, tilting his head in confusion.

“Sorry,” Renjun apologised, letting his head drop down. The two sat in silence for a moment while Kangmin letting the Chinese boy run his thumb over the skin on the Korean boy’s hand.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry for busying myself,” Kangmin responded, smiling softly at the other boy.

“I’m glad you’re fitting in,” Renjun told him, mirroring his smile. 

 

~

 

The Friday flew by and Saturday soon turned up. Kangmin woke up to the sound of the tannoy system with a professor making an announcement.

“Today is the day of choir auditions,” the announcement began, “will all first year students participating make their way down to the auditorium for 1pm.”

“So is it just music students?” Kangmin asked while Renjun brushed his teeth before spitting out. 

“Any other students put their names down earlier in the week, don’t be surprised if you see dance students or acting students,” Renjun explained, wiping his mouth before leaving the bathroom. 

The boys got dressed and ended up getting to the auditorium about a half an hour before it was due to start. Kangmin wasn’t surprised to see it was already full of students, some familiar faces, some not so. The voices started to fill the hall as the crowd grew and grew in number. He didn’t know there we so many students here. He then watched as, on the tall wooden stage with red curtains pinned back either side, professors and older students, a few of who he definitely recognised, were beginning to stand a line. The students each picked up a box as they lined up while the professors all held clip boards. Professor Jun Hyosung stepped up to the podium.

“Everyone, settle down,” she spoke softly, while waiting for the crowd to settle. When the room was silent, she spoke again, “it is with great pride and pleasure that we announce the start of this year's choir auditions.” She paused. “As you know, the academy you're all here to attend is for the elitists within the elites and through our audition process, we find out which among you are those truly on top of the world.” 

Kangmin looked to Renjun momentarily in confusion but didn't receive so much as a glance back, the Chinese boy fixated on the stage. 

“For some of you, passing your audition can mean inheriting your parents’ company, others, a company simply looking for a successor. Some of you, I'm sure, have been played off against your siblings for this exact moment.” 

Kangmin was wondering why a choir meant so much to the rich again. He knew he was about to find out. 

“Well, the wait is over,” Kangmin watched as the bright smile that decorated Professor Hyosung's face turned into a smirk, “today's the day,” she spoke in a low voice. The room erupted into a cheer, startling the scholarship boy. “Now, now,” she continued, “before the process begins, we must lay down some ground rules.” She moved off the podium, letting Professor Bang Yongguk take her place. 

“The audition process will take place over 2 weeks,” he began, eyeing the large audience before him, “and you will all still have to attend your classes,” Why would they leave class for an audition? “The dorms will be free roam.” 

Kangmin could hear chattering amongst the students. 

“You will line up and our older students will walk down the lines, letting you reach out into the box and pull out the name of your target that you must eliminate before the two weeks is up.” 

Kangmin furrowed his eyebrows. _He what now?_

“And you know, just because you take yours out doesn't mean your safe, you yourself are a target.”

“Renjun what's-" Kangmin whispered to his friend before the boy placed a finger to his lips. 

“If you go after one of the older students or teachers,” the professor stopped to stare at the crowd, “that's on you.” Professor Yongguk then swapped back with Professor Hyosung who had her ever so bright smile back on her face. 

“Now,” she continued where she left off, “the second and third year students will stand at the front with their boxes, please line up in front of them.” 

Kangmin watched as everyone rose from their seats, standing in front of one of the older students. Even Renjun was out of Kangmin’s sight as he ran to one of the lines. Kangmin couldn't see who he was waiting for but he watched Nahyun eyeing him nervously from the front, so it wasn't her. He waited as he heard shuffling, watching the line slowly move away in front of him, then he locked eyes with Yoo Youngjae, who grinned fondly, leaning forward until he reached Kangmin's ear.

“Choose wisely,” he told him before leaning back and holding out the box. Kangmin reached in, keeping his eyes locked with Youngjae's while he rooted around, digging from the bottom until one piece of paper was safely in his hand. “Good luck,” he was told as Youngjae passed him. 

Kangmin opened his piece of paper. He'd never met Choi Bomin before. 

“Uh...professor?” He heard a voice in the crowd ask. He saw the professors look over at the person in the crowd before Professor Hyosung held her hand up. 

“What's wrong?” she softly asked the first year, smile still gracing her face. 

“This person's my friend, I can't do this to them,” the person said. “I just...can't.” 

Her smile dropped, “come up to the stage,” she instructed. Kangmin watched as a female student climbed the stairs and stood in front of Professor Hyosung. “Tell everyone your name.” 

“G-Gahyeon,” she stuttered nervously. 

“Turn to face the audience,” the professor instructed. Gahyeon did as she was told, turning very slowly towards the crowds below. “Now students, witness what happens when you refuse to participate.” 

“N-no! Please!” Gahyeon begged, turning to the professor and dropping to her knees, holding her hands out. 

“Oh?” Professor Hyosung started before letting out a light giggle, “I love it when they beg.” Kangmin watched as his professor grabbed the girl by the hair, tears streaming down her face before slitting her throat. The scholarship boy covered his mouth, breathing heavily, while some screamed and a couple fainted. “When we said ‘participation is mandatory’, we meant it,” she finished before exiting the stage. 

Kangmin knew…his newly built world was about to come undone.


	2. Chapter 2: Pesante

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kangmin starts his audition and his little world he's just built starts to crumble.

Kangmin didn't know what to do. 

This certainly wasn't the first time in his life he'd thought that, but, he was starting to think it might be the last. After witnesses one fellow student get murdered by one of his teachers _on stage_ , he wishes he could say all hell broke loose. 

However, he came to find that a lot of the students quickly thought nothing of what just happened and filed out of the auditorium in an orderly fashion while two of the older students grabbed the body that was left on the stage. 

_This was normal?_ This was anything **but** Kangmin’s standard of normal. 

“You okay? You look shocked,” Renjun commented, placing a hand on Kangmin's shoulder and flashing him a smile, “shall we head back to our room?” 

“Can't we just leave?” Kangmin asked Renjun without thinking. The Chinese boy let out a laugh. 

“You heard the prof, participation is **mandatory** ,” Renjun replied, grabbing the Korean boy’s arm and leading him away from the auditorium. 

Kangmin didn't remember the walk back to his room, his head was too busy spinning with thoughts of the fact a girl in his year just died in front of his eyes. Renjun was sat with him on his bed, holding his head against his chest while Kangmin let his thoughts run marathons, hoping they’d tire out. He had so many questions and no answers were truly going to explain what just happened. He began to take deep breaths, counting to 5 while breathing in, then the same while breathing out to try and think more clearly.

But he still couldn’t piece it all together.

“Feeling better?” Renjun asked, running his fingers through Kangmin’s hair. The Korean boy nodded slowly against the Chinese boy’s chest.

“Can we just, stay like this for a while?” Kangmin requested, closing his eyes and continuing his breathing exercise. 

“Of course,” Renjun reassured, continuing to run his fingers through the other boy’s hair. They stayed like that until dinner time, when Renjun suggested they grab something to eat. Kangmin supposed he best not starve. Dinner was quiet. Most of the people there were second or third years. He ate quietly, watching Renjun who was rambling about something Kangmin wasn’t quite tuned in to while his thoughts were back on the hamster wheel when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A group of boys and girls around his age, eating their food while one of them snuck a knife up the side of their sleeve. “Hey,” Renjun spoke softly, drawing the Korean boy’s attention back to him, “look at me.”

“I am looking at you,” his eyes faltered back to the person with the knife up their sleeve. 

“No,” Renjun sighed, “you aren’t,” he reached out and cupped Kangmin’s cheek, turning his face back to him, “now keep your eyes on me, you have to trust me.”

“I,” the boy began, eyes turning back before he felt the same tug, forcing him to face his roommate, “okay.” He relaxed in the other boy’s hold before returning back to his food and eating slowly. Renjun kept him close to him once they’d finished their food, guiding the boy back to their room and placing him on the bed.

“He wasn’t going to hurt you,” he reassured, stroking Kangmin’s cheek.

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t, it could’ve been me, you just have to trust me.”

Kangmin nodded slowly. “I just need sleep,” he began, “a shower, then sleep.” Renjun had to agree, letting Kangmin go for his shower. The scholarship boy let the water run before sitting on the floor of the shower and taking some deep breaths, letting the water run off his skin. _You are fine._ He told himself, rocking back and forth. _You are safe._ Undeniably at the moment, Kangmin was safe. Nothing was happening. One death happened in front of his eyes earlier and he saw someone grab a knife he couldn’t doubt that person was going to use later. On him however? He couldn’t say. He pulled himself out of the shower after 20 minutes had past, getting into some comfy pjs and rolling himself into bed.

They had a lazy Sunday, curled up on Renjun’s bed watching movies. It was a Disney marathon, as Renjun suggested. The pair sang along to songs, laughed their way through Emperor’s New Groove. It was almost like yesterday hadn’t happened.

Almost.

Kangmin couldn’t seem to get rid of the lingering nag in the back of his head that something was happening in this academy. On this very campus. He put on a bright smile for Renjun but inside he couldn’t deny the constant dread holding him down. 

“Can we go for a walk?” He requested, half way through Mulan. 

“We can if you want to,” Renjun responded, pausing the film and standing up. “Get dressed, let’s get some fresh air.”

Fresh clothes, fresh air. The pair stepped outside of their dorms at 2pm, the sky above them had clouded over. Kangmin mentally traced the fluffy clouds in their various blacks and whites, they looked like a painting done in water colours with small streaks of light blues. He took a deep breath, letting his shoulders rise up with it before letting it out with an ‘ah’, smiling softly. Renjun walked at his pace as they patrolled the campus, sitting at one of the picnic tables and simply taking in fresh air. He was not going to let his anxiety get the better of him, this was a nice moment. 

He should have.

He heard the screams before anything else, jumping in his seat before Renjun ordered him to stay where he was. 

Kangmin was sorry he couldn’t follow that.

He waited until Renjun was five feet away before following him slowly, around one of the corners and into the dance department. He saw as people were running the other direction with smiles on their faces before Renjun stopped and peaked into one of the practice rooms. Kangmin bumped into his back. 

“Didn’t I tell you to stay put?” his roommate whispered. Kangmin didn’t need to see his face to know how he disapproved of his actions.

“What’s going on?” Kangmin asked in hushed tones before being quickly shushed by the other boy, who held his arm out in response.

“I’m going to go investigate, promise me you’ll actually stay put,” Renjun said as he turned to Kangmin and grabbed his shoulders, not so gently shaking him. The scholarship boy merely nodded before Renjun was carefully stepping into the practice room. Kangmin let out a shaky breath, carefully stepping away from the door as he promised himself that he wouldn’t look in. He heard Renjun’s footsteps disappear into the distance, being left with the sound of himself and nothing more. 

He felt his back hit a wall, temporarily startling himself before relaxing against it, watching for figures in the corridor. He glanced down as his shoes, kicking one of his feet back and forth before swapping, smiling to himself. 

Then he felt the pull. 

Before he could let out a sound, a hand covered his mouth.

“Don’t make a noise,” he was warned in hushed tones. Kangmin nodded quickly, eyes wide and flitting back and forth between anywhere he could look, his breath stuttering. “I’m going to remove my hand, you’re going to turn around,” the voice softened. Kangmin nodded again, a little slower this time, before the hand left his mouth and he slowly turned around to see Junhong before him. “Follow me.” 

The tall second year held his hand out for the first year, who accepted before being led along the small corridor and up a very tight set of wooden steps. With every movement there was a groan from the floorboards as his weight touched them. He was gently pulled when he reached the top step, walking along the floor above. He looked to his side to realise he was on a balcony, overlooking the wide practice room Renjun has stepped foot into. The boy in question was…nowhere to be seen. The only sight before him was three bodies lying in three points with their heads touching. Their arms were pulled across their chests. They looked…oddly peaceful. Kangmin shook his head, squinting his eyes at the corpses before him. He could see puddles of blood beneath their chests that stood still. This was orchestrated. This was what some would think was a masterpiece.

“Odd isn’t it?” Junhong pondered with the first year, leaning his arms on the railing while staring at scene. “How something so fragile can become something so beautiful, albeit minimalist. It’s not my style but it sure is someone’s.” He turned to the smaller boy, “not someone I’ve met before, looks like we’ve got a couple of wannabe Picassos on our hands.”

“How are you so…collected?” Kangmin asked, leaning his side against the railing.

“You get used to it,” Junhong answered, ruffling the younger’s hair, “you just have to look at it differently. A change in perspective, your normal is anything but our normal Kangmin.”

He looked at Junhong who sighed. 

“What's so wrong with uh...wannabe Picassos?” Kangmin carefully asked the older student. 

“They'll never learn to clean up they're messes,” Junhong responded, twisting his lips before continuing, “more like no name street artists. This is a place for a clean image, not some back-alley job.”

Kangmin realised he was annoyed at the prospect of someone or ones making a mess of the place.

“Sadly, I dare not intervene, don’t want to break rules,” Junhong puffed his cheeks, twisting his lips. “I'm sure once Jongup finds out about this we'll have it all sorted.” 

Kangmin was conflicted. Did he want to know what that meant? 

“Why did you pull me out of the corridor?” Kangmin thought out loud. 

“Haven't you seen horror films?” Junhong asked, resulting in a nod. “Standing out in the open isn't the best idea. What if the person with your name was around, you’d be dead by now if it wasn't for me.” 

Well...he wasn't _wrong._

The pair watched as a trio of people came back into the room and surveyed the area, walking around the work on the floor. 

“They think they're alone,” Junhong whispered to Kangmin, holding his finger to his mouth. The younger boy nodded, keeping a careful eye on them. 

“Woah, no one's cleaned it up,” one of them said. 

“Do you think we can just keep adding to this?” another asked. 

“Rule number one,” Kangmin heard Junhong start while pulling out your phone, “if you're gonna pull this shit,” he began texting someone, “never return and admire your work.” Junhong put his phone back in his pocket. “Now we wait.” He leaned his head back in his hands and watched as the three people chatting back and forth began to shift their ‘masterpiece’ around, arguing about the proportions. After a short amount of time, they decided to leave. 

“Guys, the doors locked,” one of them said. They tried the door again, shaking it slightly before erupting into shouts and banging on the door, words followed like ‘is anyone there' ‘let us out' ‘help'

“Tsk,” a voice followed behind them, “I thought we were classy,” he spoke, glancing over at the bodies. “Well? Any explanations?” 

The trio shook their heads, responding in no’s and no sir's. 

“’Sir’ has a nice ring to it, right Junhong?” the man, who Kangmin quickly realised was Jongup asked, turning to the balcony. Junhong grinned, giving the trio a wave, nudging Kangmin to join in. “I think I'll use that _later_ , but for now,” he turned back to the trio, “who wants to go first?” 

“W-with what?” the first of the trio asked. 

“Well you volunteered, step on up,” Jongup beckoned the person towards him. “What are you studying?” 

“D-drama sir.” 

“Let's see how you act out your own death scene,” he punctured the side of the person's neck, pulling out his choice of weapon and watching them drop to the floor, stepping over their body. “And, action.” The person on the floor grabbed their neck, crawling towards their friends as blood spurted out. Their voice turned into a gurgle of spit and blood as they attempted to plead for help before they stopped moving, lying on the floor and accepting the inevitable. “Hmm, your heart’s not in it,” Jongup commented, chuckling to himself. “Next.” 

“S-sir,” another spoke, “wh-y are you doing this?” 

“We like artists who create pieces through temporary means, nothing involving paints except the inks in the printers,” Jongup started, “if you aren't going to clean up, you're going to be a problem." 

“A pr-problem?” 

“Wouldn't want a sloppy student like you getting chased back to us,” Jongup ran his finger under the chin of the person talking, “that’s a lot more effort than you're worth,” he sliced along their throat, kicking them down onto their knees and watching then collapse. “Junhong, baby, come here,” Jongup beckoned. 

“You don't have to stay if it's too much for you, Kangmin,” Junhong told him, “but the climax of the show is just about to start.” 

Kangmin couldn't deny, he was entranced, simply nodding before watching Junhong descended the stairs. He watched as shortly after, Junhong emerged downstairs, moving his way over to Jongup and wrapping his arms around his neck. 

“What should we do, darling?” Jongup asked, turning to look at Junhong. The third person tried to make a run for it but Jongup threw the knife into their leg. Kangmin quickly descended the stairs, watching from the shadows of the stairwell. As the person got closer to the door he saw Junhong behind Jongup gesture for Kangmin to lock it, so he did, watching as the person stumbled towards the door and attempted to open in. He seemingly didn't see Kangmin. The only problem with moving downstairs was all the voices were muffled. He could hear the couple sharing their slightly muffled dialogue about finishing the job, however he could only hear that once the person by the door was seemingly dead. Kangmin could see the red liquid seep in from underneath the door, shuffling backwards slightly before reality hit him like a truck. 

He'd just been an accomplice. 

To a murder.

To three murders.

He opened the door he'd been led in by Junhong from and quickly fled the scene. 

_How did this happen?_ Kangmin couldn’t even remember why he stayed or what compelled him. He powered walked his way back to his dorm room, looking around to see if there were any figures before stepping inside, shutting the door and sliding down it, burying his face in his hands.

“Hey, hey,” Renjun rushed towards him, speaking softly. “Where’d you go?”

“I,” Kangmin felt his throat seize up, “I was,” he felt his eyes begin to water, “with Junhong and,” his breathing sped up, “I don’t know I just-“

“Shh,” Renjun brought to boy’s head close to him, “it’s okay, we don’t need to talk about it.”

 

~

 

Monday morning rolled around with Kangmin’s eyes feeling puffy and him feeling overall drained. He was pulled out of bed by Renjun who in contrast to the previous week was rushing him to get ready instead. The pair made their way to class with Youngjae sitting in again, keeping a close eye on every student as they worked.

“Kangmin,” Taeseon spoke softly, placing his hand on the scholarship boy’s shoulder, “are you okay?”

“Is it _that_ obvious?” Kangmin asked, chuckling to himself, “I’ll be fine,” he reassured the taller boy, busying himself in his work.

Music was therapy, Kangmin told himself as he let the melody write itself from his head to the paper before him. Each key spoke to him, sang to him as he pressed down the notes before deciding which ones worked best together. The minor key lent itself well to Kangmin’s current state of mind. He didn’t realise it was time to go to his next lesson until Renjun tapped his shoulder and gestured it was time to leave. 

Kangmin turned to bid his teacher and upperclassman farewell when he noticed Youngjae fiddling with professor Yongguk's shirt collar. He saw his professor’s eyes lock with his briefly before turning back to Youngjae, whispering to him. 

“I'll see you later Kangminnie,” Youngjae turned to him, smirking. The scholarship boy nodded slowly, letting his legs carry him out of the room. 

His next lesson with professor Himchan went by relatively quickly. He leaned his head against Renjun's shoulder as he wrote his notes while Renjun pulled a page out of his notebook and wrote a note, sliding it over to Kangmin. 

‘How are you feeling?’ 

Kangmin smiled softly before noting down some more words, jotting down his response and sliding it back over. 

‘A bit better.’ 

He kept writing notes as he heard the door open to the classroom. 

“Sir,” he heard Daehyun’s voice, “can you help me with something?”

“Can it wait 10 more minutes Daehyun?” Professor Himchan responded. Kangmin looked up to see him peaking from over his glasses at the older classman. 

“It can wait 10 minutes,” Daehyun answered, almost sounding sad. 

“It can wait 10 minutes what?” the professor continued, not taking his eyes off the student. 

“It can wait 10 minutes sir,” Daehyun finished with a blush in his cheeks, eyes cast down at the floor. He watched as the student then looked up, glancing around the room before laying his eyes on Kangmin and waving at him. 

Once ten minutes had passed, class had ended and Kangmin was ready to leave. Renjun and him were _just_ about to leave the floor when Kangmin remembered something. 

“I forgot my notebook, go ahead without me,” he told the Chinese boy, running back to his classroom. He knocked on the door gently, hearing no response, he opened the door and went in. He quickly darted for his desk, grabbing his pen and putting it in his pocket before glancing up. 

To find Daehyun on his knees and undoing professor Himchan’s belt. Kangmin took careful steps to leave the classroom and gently pulling the door behind him. 

Weren't Daehyun and Youngjae dating? He’d seen one suspicious thing from Youngjae, but he took that as him fixing his professor's shirt or...something more innocent. 

Kangmin mentally slapped himself. 

“Just the person I was after!” he heard a voice behind him, turning to see Junhong. “Where'd you run off to yesterday?” 

All the events of yesterday came flooding back to him. The memory of Junhong’s face etched into his brain as he told him to close the door. 

“I was,” Kangmin started, feeling his throat constrict. 

“Was it too much? Fuck, I'm sorry,” Junhong said, rubbing the back of his neck and pressing his lips together. 

What Kangmin didn't want to say was how hypnotised he was. How drawn in by the whole experience. He shook his head before he felt a hand on top of his head, ruffling his hair. 

“I'm really sorry,” Junhong apologised with a smile on his face, “let me buy you lunch, off campus.”

Well, Kangmin wasn't one to refuse a free meal. He and Junhong made their way out of the music department and onto the main campus, heading over towards the main gate before Kangmin noticed something. 

Another body, laid down near the front gates.

 _Reckless._ Kangmin thought. 

He covered his mouth, taking a deep breath. Junhong leaned over to see what Kangmin was so shocked by before opening his mouth in an o shape and letting out a deep sigh, leading Kangmin back on to the campus and sitting him down at one of the benches. 

“Do you carry water?” Junhong asked, resulting in a head shake. “Let's go grab you some.” The taller boy put his arm around the smaller, leading him over to the nearest school shop and purchasing a water bottle for the smaller boy. He opened it for him and passed him the bottle. “Take small sips,” he instructed. Kangmin nodded, taking deep breaths before sipping slowly on the water. He passed the bottle back to Junhong when a third of the water was gone. 

“Thank you,” Kangmin looked up at the older boy, trying to muster a smile, “how do you deal with all this?”

“You learn not to think about it,” Junhong responded. The younger boy tried to pass his water bottle over but Junhong pushed it back, “keep it, let’s get you some food. I know you don’t feel like it, but you have to eat.”

Kangmin let Junhong escort him to the cafeteria where Renjun was waiting with two trays on food on one table. When he saw Kangmin, his eyes sparkled, smiling brightly at the boy. Junhong left him with his roommate.

 

~

 

Kangmin found himself jolting awake, turning over to check the time, seeing it was 4am. He sighed to himself running his hands down his face, looking over to his roommate who was fast asleep. He decided to get up. He threw on some of his scruffy clothes that needed a wash, a jacket and his shoes and went for a walk. 

Just your casual Tuesday morning, he thought. 

He carefully shut the dorm door behind him, making sure to hear the soft _click_ before taking a couple of quiet steps down the hall then settling into a casual stride. He needed to clear his head. His brain had been filled with bloody halls and classrooms, watching everyone he knew die in front of his eyes. That reality was real, it could happen. He couldn’t tell himself ‘just because it could doesn’t mean it will’ for he himself had no clue. 

He could hear screaming in the distance and stood by one of the doorways, holding his breath while one girl chased another through the corridors with a…pair of scissors? Kangmin wasn’t sure whether to be threatened or not. 

“Kangmin?” he heard Youngjae’s voice, looking up to meet him as he cascaded the stairs. “What are you doing up so late?” 

“I just woke up… nightmare,” Kangmin flashed an awkward smile. The third year nodded, holding his hand out and gesturing. The scholarship student took the third year’s hand and followed him up to the second floor, marvelling at the rooms he hadn’t had a chance to see properly. 

“The room next to me is empty, I’m excited to see who’ll make a call for it this year, usually no one,” Youngjae passed comment as he opened his bedroom door, inviting the younger boy in. He looked around the rich boy’s room, seeing a dart board on the door with various photos adorning it. A bunch of post-it notes across a plain wall, some that have been piled on top of others, a bookcase with textbooks piling high. A bed full of throw pillows, plants on a shelf with a lamp to simulate sunlight and a chest of drawers for clothes underneath. He also had a kettle alongside an array of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. “Coco time, I think,” Youngjae said, filling a water bottle into the kettle and boiling the water, sitting Kangmin on his bed while they waited. “Marshmallows?” 

“Yes please,” Kangmin answered, playing with his sleeves. Youngjae brought over two cups of hot chocolate, one with marshmallows on top, passing it to the younger of the pair. Kangmin took a small sip, sticking his tongue out at the heat. 

“Yeah be careful it’s hot by the way,” Youngjae stated, chuckling at the younger boy, who nodded slowly, scrunching his eyes shut, placing the mug down to wave his hand in front of his tongue in attempts to air it. The older of the pair took slow sips, humming to himself in between while glancing around his own room, flashing the younger a smile. 

It was a while after their drinks were finished and light conversation was made through sleepy minds and tired eyes that Youngjae offered to escort Kangmin back to his room. 

“Shh,” Youngjae said while they were in the corridor, hiding Kangmin behind him. The two careful peeked around the corner and watched the scene before them. 

“I can’t do it,” they heard a boy say, “it’s a human life.”

“Did I just hear that right?” a female voice joined in.

“Oh shit, it’s Minjae,” Youngjae whispered, pulling Kangmin over to watch as they peeked around the corner.

“Did I hear,” Minjae started, being followed by a few girls, including Nahyun and Eunae, “you say that you can’t do it?”

“I’m s-sorry,” the boy said, falling to his knees and breaking down, holding his hands up, “I’ll do anything.”

Minjae leaned down, patting the boy’s head gently, “what’s your favourite colour?”

“B-blue,” the boy sniffled, looking into her eyes, “wh-why?”

“Good choice,” she said, helping him stand up before wrapping her hand around his neck and squeezing. Kangmin could see the boy struggling as Minjae’s nails dug into his neck, almost piercing the skin beneath. As the boy progressively started turning blue while he tried to pry her hand away from his neck. Until his eyes rolled to the back of his head and she dropped him. _Thunk._ “Pity to lose another one,” she commented as she wiped her fingers on his shirt.

Nahyun looked around, spotting Youngjae and Kangmin, nodding quickly in acknowledgement with Youngjae nodding back before leading the younger boy down the stairs and passed the group of girls before flashing him a smile and leaving him to get back into his room and crawl back into his bed.

Later that morning, his midnight stint was filled with regret as his tired state swept over him. He felt his legs dragging themselves to class. The room was practically spinning as he felt as if he was floating. He groaned, leaning his face against the desk, Renjun leaning to mirror him, mimicking his groan. 

“I heard the door shut at 4am, where’d you go?” Renjun asked, rubbing Kangmin’s back.

“Hung out with Youngjae,” Kangmin mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment before they shot up in his attempts to stay awake. Renjun chuckled at the other boy, sitting up and preparing for class. Youngjae waltzed in half way through the lesson looking like he’d never been up in the night, like he’d slept like a baby all night, passing notes to Professor Himchan and whispering something in his ear. 

“Kim Kangmin, you’re excused,” his professor announced, looking in his direction before the boy in question looked at Renjun and shrugged, packing his things away and following Youngjae out of the classroom.

“What was that about?” Kangmin asked, following Youngjae blindly.

“Lack of sleep leads to an inability to think and you need to be as alert as possible,” Youngjae told the boy, dusting down his shoulders for him, “so I’m going to teach you how to deal with a lack of sleep.” Kangmin continued to follow Youngjae down the corridor, towards one of the empty music practice rooms that had small red patches on the walls, “tsk, amateurs.”

“I’m guessing that’s blood,” Kangmin remarked, looking to his peer for approval, who, by the twisting of his mouth and his clearly thoughtful yet somewhat aggravated expression, allowing Kangmin to work out he was correct. 

“You pull this shit,” Youngjae started, walking over to the walls, running his finger along a patch of red before lifting his finger up to see stains, “you learn how to do it properly.” He stood up, pursuing his lips. Junhong said something similar.

“Should I clean it up?” asked Kangmin, looking at the older student who shook his head and folded his arms. It wasn’t his job. It wasn’t Youngjae’s job. It was the culprit’s. 

“Do you like games Kangmin?” Youngjae responded, grinning at the younger boy. He nodded, tilting his head. “Then let’s play one.”

Youngjae pulled Kangmin over to the doorway, looking through before pointing over to the shadowy figures at the end of the corridor. 

“I need you to lure whoever’s coming over here,” Youngjae instructed, pushing Kangmin out of the door and disappearing into the room. The scholarship boy wandered down the corridor in attempts to find where the figure was heading. He locked his eyes onto a boy in the distance, following him very slowly, carefully. He was almost nearing the next department over before his impatience got the better of him and he ran towards him before coming to a completely stop when he banged against his back. He was making this a bad habit. 

“Yes?” The boy asked as he turned towards him. The boy was taller than him for a start. He had tired eyes matching his own with black hair. His clothes were scruffy, like he’d recently been in a fight. Kangmin’s eyes flitted back and forth between the boy’s face, the boy’s shirt, the floor, the walls. He pressed his lips together for a second before letting them _pop._

“I think you dropped something back there,” he knew what he spouted was really lame. He was convinced the boy before him wasn’t going to buy into it. He balled his fists, trying not to let his nervousness show on his face. 

“Shit, did I?” he asked, leaning to look over Kangmin’s shoulder. The scholarship boy started slowly walking back to the classroom with the boy following him. _He bought it? Oh wow._ Kangmin had a small smile of victory on his face for a brief moment before letting it drop as he turned to check the boy was still there. Once he confirmed he was, he began to lead him over to the classroom he was in with his upperclassman, peering through the doorway. 

“I think it’s in here…” Kangmin trailed off looking for any sign of a certain Yoo Youngjae who he was with before, to no avail before walking into the practice room. 

“Uh…I don’t…see anything I could’ve left,” the boy said, glancing around the room before Kangmin heard a huff from the boy. He saw the door behind the boy begin to close, hearing it shut before glancing at the boy nervously. He felt like he’d seen this tactic before. He was definitely on the other end before. The boy, once he too, realised the situation, turned to Kangmin, tilting his head and looking the boy up and down, “am I your target?” 

Kangmin’s brain was racking through the answers. He didn’t know him, he could swear. He’d never met him before, he’d remember. He was guessing everyone in this academy knew who he was but him. The light came on a little too late as the boy was charging towards him, wrestling him against a wall. Kangmin struggled against the boy’s hold, barely managing to get away and hide behind the drum set. This was a music practice room, there had to be something he could work with. He blindly reached for the nearest instrument he could find.

A…banjo? 

He was at least hoping for a guitar. He could hit someone with that. Kangmin shook his head as the intrusive thoughts hit him. This wasn’t happening. 

“What are you going to do with that, hmm?” The boy taunted before heading back towards Kangmin. The scholarship boy did all he could think to do, swinging the instrument with all his might. He kept his eyes on the boy as he headed towards him before scrunching his eyes shut and giving his best shot, hearing a couple of _twangs_ , hissing at the feeling of a broken string hitting his face as the body of the banjo broke off on the boy’s head. In a panic as he watched the boy fall to his knees, he grabbed one of the strings from the neck, feeling it loosen on one of the pins and tugged hard, pulling the string off the instrument before wrapping it around the boy’s neck and tightening, squeezing as hard as he could. The boy squirmed in his grasp, reaching for Kangmin to no avail. He watched as his struggle became weaker and weaker before his arms dropped.

He didn’t let go for the string, still breathing heavily where he stood. 

Not when he heard the soft _click_ of the door unlocking. 

Not when he heard footsteps from behind him. 

He stood still.

“It’s okay,” Youngjae spoke softly as he pried the boy’s hands away from the string. He pulled his hands up, looking at the indents that remained in the pads of his fingers, “look at you,” he cooed, reaching towards his face and wiping his thumb over the newly formed cut on his cheek. Kangmin scrunched his eyes in response, “let’s get you to the nurse’s office.” 

As Kangmin was being led out of the room, he watched the body that had hit the floor, cold and lifeless. He turned to Youngjae who was calm and collected, who walked as if nothing had happened, leading him down the bright corridors that should be so welcoming and warm. The last thing he remembers was the lights getting brighter and the sounds of footsteps echoing in his ears.


	3. Chapter 3: Mezzo Forte

“Did you get his name tag?” Kangmin heard as he opened his eyes, glancing over to see Youngjae sat in Daehyun’s lap on the small chair at the end of the bed he was in. The light stung the scholarship boy’s eyes, causing him to squint.

“Choi Bomin has been eliminated,” he heard a familiar voice say, turning to glance at the third figure. He couldn’t see him for the curtain obscuring him as he watched the silhouette grow more distant.

He took this opportunity to let out a groan as he sat up slowly, watching as the couple’s eyes shifted to him. 

“Oh good, you’re awake,” he heard from Youngjae, looking around the room briefly before glancing back at the couple.

“What…time is it?” asked the youngest, looking to see the sun was higher in the sky.

“Around 1pm,” came the reply, he saw Youngjae shift off of Daehyun’s lap, pulling him up as he stood. “We’ll tell your friends, they’ve been worried.”

All the boy could do was nod before they left the room, leaving him to his thoughts, albeit briefly. He heard a couple of familiar voices rushing in to check on the boy, including Taeseon, Hayoung and of course Renjun. He could also hear the rest of the group Taeseon introduced him to coming from the corridor.

“Are you okay?” asked Taeseon.

“What happened?” asked Renjun, at the same time as Taeseon.

“I,” Kangmin looked to the both of them carefully, staring into space for a second before the memories of earlier in the day came rushing back. The boy covered his mouth as he could feel his heartrate start to speed back up. He felt tears prick his eyes, looking to the side of him. He could vividly see the boy before him, standing behind his friends as he tried to blink away his tears, staring at him dully. Kangmin closed his eyes tightly, letting the tears flow down his face. He felt the arms of Renjun wrap around him pulling him close to him. Whatever he could have been saying to him wasn’t registering as Kangmin stared into space. 

 

~

 

His memory was fogging. He could swear he was being followed, like someone just _knew_ what he’d done. He looked behind him as he walked with Renjun to the cafeteria for breakfast and kept glancing every so often.

“Hey,” Renjun tapped Kangmin on the shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“N-nothing,” the boy responded, glancing around some more before sighing as they sat down with their lunch. He ate in silence, chewing his food slowly, flashing his roommate a reassuring smile. He kept seeing the boy. He didn’t want to tell anyone because he knew how crazy he sounded. Every time, Kangmin would stare into his eyes and pinch himself, close his eyes tightly and wait for him to disappear. Renjun hadn’t noticed this newly found habit until he saw the red marks on Kangmin’s hands and arms and pressed him about it. 

Kangmin told him it was nothing. 

“I promise you, it’s nothing.”

He didn’t know how convincing he sounded but Renjun seemed to take it, “if you say so.” 

He found class distracting when he’d see the figure staring at him from behind the teacher or by the door frame. Even Nahyun seemed to notice something was playing on his mind during Japanese class and left him a note. 

_It’s gonna be okay, wait here after class._

He looked up at her in acknowledgement, glancing around the room, pressing his lips together and writing notes and the example sentences. The lesson went by with Kangmin feeling this constant looming over his shoulder but every time he checked, no one was there. He put his hand on his chest, taking deep breaths. 

“Okay,” Nahyun said, pulling one of the chairs in front of his desk, “what’s going on?”

Kangmin looked up at his senior, sighing to himself before speaking, “I keep…seeing someone…and feeling like I’m being followed.”

“That’s called guilt sweet Kangmin,” he was informed before his upperclassman reached over and rubbed his shoulder gently, “it takes time, but, you’ll get used to it.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“You’ve just got to trust me.”

Kangmin looked into her eyes and she gave him a reassuring smile in response. He couldn’t help but mirror it. She stayed with him, walking him down to his dorm room and turning him around, giving him a hug and rubbing his back. 

“You’ll get through this,” she whispered before pulling away, giving him a small smile then turning around. Kangmin saw the figure in the distance as he watched Nahyun walk away. He took in a sharp breath before swallowing slowly and entering his dorm room. Renjun was sat on his bed flicking through one of his textbooks, waving to the scholarship boy as he walked in. He sat with him, watching the pages in front of him carefully. 

 

~

 

_Kangmin felt as if he was being chased down the corridors by something but he wasn’t sure what. He kept running. It was all that felt right. An endless corridor engulfed in darkness. He could hear a constant drip, drip, drip, kicking up pools of red as he was going as fast as his feet would take him. The walls’ paper was peeling to reveal rotten walls underneath that were slowly collapsing. Turning off only lead to more corridors. An endless maze where the walls were closing in. There were no windows letting in light. Doors only led to more endless corridors. He stopped to catch his breath before he felt something touch his shoulder and turned around to see-_

 

~

 

Kangmin awoke in a cold sweat, panting heavily with Renjun sat in front of him shaking him lightly. 

“You were screaming in your sleep,” he was told by his roommate. He was sure he was as the memories came rushing back of his dream.

“Can I have a hug?” Kangmin asked, holding out his arms, trying to calm his somewhat rapid breathing. His roommate nodded, crawling in to bed and pulling Kangmin into his arms while stroking his hair. The boy fell back asleep in no time at all.

 

~

 

His class sizes had begun to feel smaller. He didn’t remember everyone’s faces or names, but, he remembered where they’d be sat. He didn’t realise how real the situation was until Taeseon didn’t turn up on time. He couldn’t concentrate on his work. Between the absence of his friend and his hallucinations he didn’t want to be anywhere but his bed. Professor Yongguk seemed to notice this, coming over and passing Kangmin a piece of paper.

_You’re excused for 10 minutes._

He grabbed his coat and left the classroom in a hurry before Renjun or Hayoung could get a word in. He had one destination in mind, the nurse’s office. He started off in a power walk before he skipped and was into a run, racing down the corridors in search of the familiar office. Eventually he stumbled across the sign that he was looking for in the dance department and practically flew inside the already open door before finding himself in front of a sleeping Taeseon in one of the beds. The taller boy must’ve heard his footsteps because he blinked his eyes open, turning towards the smaller boy and smiling brightly at him.

“What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the taller boy commented. He sat up and patted on the mattress, still holding his smile. The scholarship boy slowly walked towards the bed, sitting down, still staring at him in disbelief.

“I…” he started, trying to find the words, “thought you…”

“Were dead?” Taeseon finished, breaking into a chuckle, “please, have a little more faith Kangmin.” The smaller boy didn’t know how to respond, settling with wrapping his arms around the taller boy’s neck and giving him a squeeze. Taeseon rubbed his back slowly in response, “I just had a headache that’s all, Hayoung probably forgot to tell you.” Kangmin nodded quickly, taking a deep breath, revelling in the moment of peace. 

He went to class slightly more relaxed, still checking over his shoulder every once in a while.

 

~

 

_Kangmin was still running through the corridors that never ended. There were windows this time, he noticed, with moonlight flooding every few steps he took before he was in shadow again. The doors still lead nowhere. The walls were still rusted with puddles by his feet. The presence was further away, still looming enough for Kangmin to see if he turned to look. He tripped and was met with-_

 

~

 

Kangmin felt tired. His skin felt heavy and his limbs too much to move. Renjun brushed his hand over the scholarship boy’s hair gently, eliciting a groan as the boy stretched his limbs, looking up at his roommate who was smiling softly. 

“It’s Friday, come on,” he heard his roommate say as he began to feel himself being shaken back and forth. “One more day, then the week’s over.” Kangmin huffed, sitting himself up and dragging himself to the shower. 

He saw that face again in the mirror as he wiped away the condensation, however, he merely shook his head and he went away. 

_It takes time, but, you’ll get used to it._ Nahyun’s words rang in his ears, hanging in the air as he realised what she meant. He took a breath, closing his eyes and nodding to himself. He could do this.

Then classes were over before he knew it and Kangmin could safely say he’d survived his first week. 

“The door’s locked right?” Renjun asked, after he turned the light off. 

“Uh…” Kangmin hesitated, glancing at his friend, tilting his head.

“We’ve gotta make sure no one gets in during the night,” his roommate explained. Kangmin twisted his lips before shrugging.

“You could check?” he responded, unsure of his roommate’s paranoia.

Kangmin heard a soft _click_ from the door, bringing back memories of his Tuesday, intaking a deep breath. Nothing was going to happen. He was certain.

“I knew it wasn’t,” Renjun said, clearly reassuring himself as he heard his roommate crawl into his bed.

 

~

 

_The corridors were wider this time, Kangmin noted. He had places to duck and hide and when he was stood in the shadows, the figure wouldn’t chase him anymore. As soon as the moonlit rays hit him, the figure was back after him. The puddles were smaller, like they’d been seeping out through the floorboards. He still eventually got caught by-_

 

~

 

To say he awoke with a fright at the sound of someone banging on his door loudly was an understatement. He pulled himself from his bed, walking over to the door and opening it slowly. 

“Hello-“ he was interrupted by Hayoung pulling Hohyeon and Siwoo into the room then pressing his finger to Kangmin’s lips. Siwoo pulled a small notepad out from his back pocket and Hohyeon passed Hayoung a pen. 

_No one knows we’re here, okay?_ Hayoung wrote in rushed, messy handwriting. While Kangmin sat back on his bed alongside Hayoung and Siwoo sat on Renjun’s empty bed, Hohyeon pressed his head against the door, listening closely to possible footsteps from outside. Kangmin turned to Hayoung and gestured for the notepad, writing quickly.

_Have you lost anyone yet?_

Hayoung looked at the note and shook his head before crossing his fingers. Kangmin nodded slowly, chewing on his bottom lip. The four sat in silence practically holding their breath for what felt like forever before Hohyeon pulled away from the door and gave a thumbs up, slowly moving away from the door. 

“Thanks for that,” he said, patting Kangmin’s shoulder, “we’d be toast without you.”

“Dare I ask?” Kangmin questioned, looking at his door before looking back to the trio.

“We owe you one, put it that way,” Hayoung told the smaller boy, flashing him a brief smile before standing up and leaving the room. Siwoo lingered for a moment, smiling at the boy and nodding before leaving.

The next incident happened shortly after lunch with Kangmin being dragged into a broom closet by Hakmin and Hyunwoo. Hakmin was holding his hand over Kangmin’s mouth while Hyunwoo was leaning his back against the door.

“That’s a dumb idea,” Hakmin stage whispered as Kangmin struggled against his palm, “what if someone stabs something through the door, you’re fucked.”

“Listen,” Hyunwoo whispered in response, “I’m not thinking.”

“I know,” Hakmin kicked the slightly taller boy in response. Kangmin tapped Hakmin’s hand who pulled away, flashing him an apologetic smile. It was 10 minutes of hearing Hakmin and Hyunwoo’s bickering before they finally decided to let Kangmin out and into the wilds of the corridor again.

Then it was hiding in the classroom with Jihun, Wooyeop and Jisung, who were at least better at keeping quiet. The three of them alternated who was looking out of the door, even Kangmin chimed in at points before being pulled back quickly at replaced by someone else.

Needless to say when Kangmin bumped into Taeseon just before dinner, he had a couple of questions.

“Why was everyone hiding with me around?” Kangmin asked as they walked into the cafeteria. Taeseon glanced around the room before leading the smaller boy aside.

“What are you on about?” Taeseon asked, leaning down. Kangmin poked Taeseon’s chest.

“You’re telling me you have no idea why your friends have been dragging me in and out of places today?” Kangmin responded, raising an eyebrow at the taller boy, who shook his head. Kangmin pursued his lips before pressing them together and narrowing his eyebrows. “You sure?”

“Positive, I wouldn’t lie to you Kangmin,” he ruffled the smaller boy’s hair before leaving him to grab some food. The smaller of the pair was left even more confused and stood stunned for a moment before Renjun met up with him.

Once the pair were back in the dorm room, the question came up again.

“Can I lock the door again tonight?” Renjun asked, leaning against the door with his hand on the handle.

“Why do you ask? Don’t we lock the door anyway?” Kangmin questioned, “I’ve been tip toed around all day and now you wanna play it safe?” He realised when he finished talking he was raising his voice and sighed, clapping his hands against his face a couple of times before waving his hands. “Don’t worry about me, whatever makes you feel better.”

“Is…everything okay Kangmin?” Renjun asked after he’d locked the door and sat across from the scholarship boy.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Kangmin told his roommate, nodding to him. 

“I just want to keep you safe, you never know who might be out to get you,” Renjun informed the boy, reaching out to hold Kangmin’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m perfectly safe Renjun,” he insisted to his roommate. 

“I need to know you’re safe with my own eyes Kangmin,” his roommate responded, letting go of his hand, “now get some sleep.”

“Night.”

“Good night Kangmin.”

Except Kangmin refused to sleep. He rolled over into his bed and waited. He didn’t just wait until he could hear the soft breathing of his roommate. He waited 3 hours, wide awake in his bed. Once he was absolutely sure of his roommate being in a deep enough sleep that unlocking the door and leaving his bed wouldn’t wake him. He left. 

The time was 1am.

He wandered through the corridors of the academy dorms, trying to find something. Answers wasn’t it. He wasn’t exactly sure of it himself. He just needed space from his friends. However, while deep in his thoughts he came to realise he was lost. Which part of the building was he even in anymore. There wasn’t any moonlight to help him, the sky had clouded over. There weren’t any lights on, everyone was asleep.

Or so he thought.

“Kangmin?” he heard a feminine voice from up the stairs. He looked up to find Nahyun, surprised to see him at such an early hour. “This is the girl’s dorm.”

Kangmin opened his mouth in a silent ‘oh’ before she beckoned him up.

“Come here silly, I’m sure you’re here for a reason,” she told him, holding her hand out. He gladly took his upperclassman’s hand, being led down one of the upstairs corridors and to the end of the hall. She opened the door to reveal her room, lit by candles. “I was having some quiet time, candles and a book, casual stuff.” Kangmin chuckled in response, sitting on the upperclassman’s bed and watching her play with the candles, “maybe it was a satanic ritual, who knows.”

“Who knows,” Kangmin echoed, laughing.

“So tell me,” she leaned back, in his chair, crossing one leg over the other and using it as stability to lead her head in one of her hands, “what’s on the mind of Kim Kangmin.”

He let out a sigh, “I feel like all my friends are trying to…protect me from something…It was okay at first, I thought I was helping them this morning but after that I was being pulled this way and that way and Taeseon said he had no idea about it and then Renjun insisted on locking the door again-“

“Again?” Nahyun repeated.

“Again,” Kangmin reiterated.

“Odd,” the girl leaned back, grabbing her book from her desk and placing her bookmark neatly inside before putting it back down, “I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s probably them being over cautious, you’re the precious scholarship boy after all,” she cooed, smiling at the boy.

“I guess,” he shrugged, leaning back on her bed. The pair stayed in comfortable silence for a moment. It was nice. Something about Nahyun’s room calmed the boy down. The smells of cookies and Christmas from the candles might’ve done it. The homely atmosphere by all her simple decorations, including a typical “home is where the heart is” sign. It was like a home away from home. Nahyun hummed a little tune to herself, tying her hair up in a messy ponytail and sweeping her bangs out of her eyes, nodding to herself. 

“I hate to be a pain,” she said, “and I know you’ve had this all day sweetie,” she pulled Kangmin up off of the bed, “but I need to sit nice and tight in my closet for about two seconds before you can come out.”

“Why?” Kangmin asked as she pulled him towards the closet, opening the door and giving him a small push, forcing him to land inside. She pushed the door closed, leaving only the slats as a way of partial sight for Kangmin.

“Because the show’s about to start,” Nahyun whispered, a wide grin on her face. “2 seconds, trust me.”

“Can you believe we’re doing this?” he heard a male voice nearing the door of Nahyun’s bed.

“We’ll bang her, then we’ll kill her,” another male voice said.

“Sounds good to me,” a third party member joined in.

“Boys,” Nahyun tsked at the end. Kangmin could tell she was rolling her eyes and she walked over to her phone and pressed play. Music filled the room as one of the boys opened the door and attempted to grab Nahyun. She pushed him down on the bed gently, “don’t you know how to treat a lady?” she asked innocently, pouting her lips before reaching behind into the man’s back pocket and using what was there to slit his throat. She watched him squirm and cough on her bed before reaching over and patting her fingers on his throat, “ah, ah, hasn’t anyone taught you manners?” She pulled her fingers to her lips and patted the blood stain on them lightly. “My favourite shade.” Kangmin opened the closet door slowly and began following her and she pulled the bookmark back out of her book. She kicked one of the boys towards her wall, leaving a knife in his chest which he quickly attempted to pull out before she waggled her finger, pulling it out and slamming it right back into his stomach. Kangmin followed closely as she then took her bookmark and forced it against the boy’s neck. The bookmark didn’t appear to be bending. “Say please and I’ll make it painless, screaming only makes this more fun.” The boy screaming causing her to grab his tongue and use the bookmark to slice it off, watching the boy fall to the floor and choke on his own blood.

“Wow,” Kangmin breathed in awe.

“I could’ve sworn I heard,” Nahyun spoke, watching a shadow in the distance. “Ah.” She lifted her arm up and pressed a button on her sleeve gently, firing a small arrow from her wrist. Kangmin watched as it flew threw the air and landed in the boy’s head. “There we go, all finished.” She turned to Kangmin and smiled. Before him he saw his friendly upperclassman with patches of fresh, thick blood staining her lips with splashes on her cheeks and clothes. She tilted her head, pulling the material forward before sighing. “And these were brand new,” she said as she pouted. “Oh well.”

The pair heard a throat being cleared in the distance, “Miss Kim Nahyun,” they turned to see Professor Hyosung at the bottom of the stairs, “clean that up.”

“Yes miss,” Nahyun responded gleefully, doing a small curtsy to finish before smirking at Kangmin. “Lemme show you the ropes but you’ve gotta help me carry the bodies.”

Kangmin gagged slightly as his eyes cast down on the tongue, glancing back up at Nahyun who picked the muscle up and made her way over to the service elevator. 

“Do you see why I picked this room now?” Nahyun told the boy, opening it up and throwing the tongue inside, “one body at a time, it’s all that’ll fit sadly so I’ll be downstairs.” He watched her skip her way down the stairs, disappearing under the balcony before shouting, “today would be nice!”

Kangmin rolled up his sleeves and set to work, lifting the tongueless body towards the service elevator then trying to fit it inside, lowering the hatch and pressing the button, hearing it glide down the shaft before hearing Nahyun open it faintly from the bottom. He then dragged the body with the arrow in it’s head from down the hall and towards the service elevator. As he pressed the button he heard another groan from downstairs and Nahyun loudly saying, “I swear there’s always five.” Kangmin didn’t need another word. He loaded the other two in, one after another before making his way downstairs and helping Nahyun pull the fourth body out. “This isn’t the fun part I know, but it’s necessary,” she told him as the pair began to haul one corpse after another out into the back of the dorms and into one of the bins. “They put them in incinerators I’ve heard,” she told him as they lifted the first one into the industrial sized bins waiting out the back of the building, “trust me they don’t use these for anything else.”

“The cleaners must get paid a lot,” Kangmin commented.

“Oh they do,” Nahyun told him, “they’re former students, they did this once.” She carried on as they were pulling the second body into the trash. It took them 20 minutes to put all the pieces in one place before Nahyun shut the door and then Kangmin followed her upstairs. They pulled the sheets off of her bed and she took them downstairs, throwing them into the bin too, he told her. Then they worked on scrubbing down the halls. She went into her ensuite, pulling a bucket from inside the doorframe and filling the bucket with soap, she reached into the cupboard and grabbed two sponges and a lot of salt. “Salt helps lift blood from things.”

The pair began to scrub the floor first, getting on their hands and knees and working the floors to the best of their ability. Then Nahyun grabbed some spray of some description and began spraying the hall once she was satisfied. The walls were easier, Kangmin found after he’d put on some gloves and started working on those, finding bleach took away most stains quite quickly.

“Now you know why my room’s simplistic, otherwise I’d paint it all pink,” she stated as she emptied the bucket down her sink. “I need to shower and so do you, but I’ll go first, don’t want blood stains on fresh clothes for you now do we,” she told him, “wait here.” So, he did, waiting in her candlelit room while he heard water gushing down on her. Then they swapped. While Nahyun got dressed and grabbed a change of clothes for Kangmin, the boy showered. “I’ll leave these out here,” she told him. Once he’d hopped out, he found a pile of brand new clothes waiting for him that were warmed up by sitting somewhere.

“Thank you,” he told her, smiling.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she responded, “you deserve a present.”

“What?”

“For helping me clean up, I’m giving you a present,” he watched as Nahyun reached into her drawers, searching around for a moment before “aha! Close your eyes,” she told him as she held her hands behind her back. Kangmin closed his eyes and held his hands out, being met with a small object. He opened his eyes to see a…lipstick? “It’s not what you think,” she opened the lid and turned the lipstick up to reveal a small knife hidden inside, “you never know when you could need one.”

“And you would know that,” Kangmin commented.

“Of course, you’d be surprised what I’ve had to hide weaponry in. In this place, you trust yourself and how much you can get away with carrying,” she grinned, pulling out her phone and glancing at the time. “You’re late Alice,” she said, showing him her phone.

6am.

Had it really been all night?

“Unbelievable right?” she said, giggling to herself and putting her phone down, “time sure flies when you’re having fun, thank god it’s a Sunday.”

Kangmin realised something. He did have fun. A surprising amount considering what happened. His eyes widened for a moment.

“No, no,” Nahyun started, cupping the boy’s face in her hands and looking him in the eyes, “don’t start thinking about the murder part, it was fun and that’s what matters, you had fun.”

“I did,” Kangmin agreed, covering his mouth and laughing. Nahyun smiled proudly at the younger boy, running one of her hands over his hair.

“Good, let’s go get something to eat, you deserve a big breakfast.”

 

~

 

Kangmin had slipped the ‘lipstick’ in his pocket, he noted as he headed back towards his dorm room. 

“Those are some expensive clothes,” he heard Taeseon say as he walked in his direction, “where’d you get those?”

“I was hanging out with Nahyun,” he told his friend, smiling brightly.

“Remind me, I need to take you out shopping for more things like that, thank her for me,” he heard as Taeseon pat his shoulder then walked off. Kangmin entered his dorm room with a smile, shutting the door behind him and practically skipping inside.

“Where were you last night?” Kangmin heard, turning around quickly to see Renjun sat on _his_ bed. _Kangmin’s bed._

“I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk,” Kangmin told his roommate as his smile quickly dropped.

“Why are you so happy?” Renjun asked, sounding sad as he stood up and walked towards him.

“I was hanging out with friends,” Kangmin spoke quickly, looking around panicked.

“ _I’m_ your friend, hang out with me,” his roommate told him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. Kangmin returned to hug. “Never do that again, promise?”

“I…” Kangmin pulled back, searching Renjun’s face, seeing his sad eyes. He felt like he’d committed the ultimate betrayal. “I promise.” His roommate pulled him back into a hug, stroking his hair. Kangmin shut his eyes briefly before staring into space.

 

~

 

_Kangmin wasn’t running anymore, he was walking. Everything was clear apart from the darkness of the corridor. The moonlight welcomed him with open arms and hugged him with its cold arms. He could hear the figure behind him matching his pace and turned around to see him._

_Himself._

_Kangmin smiled at the mirror image before him, beckoning him towards the light. He saw the shaky hands and the shocked eyes that slowly came towards him before he pulled him into a hug. The meek version of himself disappeared to dust in his arms and he watched as the light breeze from the open windows carried him away into the night._

_He had been born anew._

 

~

 

After Kangmin finally slept on Sunday, he had mixed feelings the next day when his brain was finally functioning. Plus side, the figure had all but disappeared, he wasn’t seeing things anymore and that was thanks to Nahyun boosting his spirits yesterday…even if it was after watching her go on a murder spree, at least she enjoyed it. Down side, Renjun had gotten…well…strange. Kangmin couldn’t place his finger on it. He’d gone from a somewhat clingy roommate to someone who had to make sure Kangmin was safely tucked in his bed and totally within the safety of their room at night. 

He was trying to let it slide.

It wasn’t working.

He was tapping his pencil against his desk as he was vaguely listening to Professor Himchan talk about how the mood of pieces is important and that still applied to songs.

“Mr Kim. Kangmin.” He heard, stopping his actions to glance at his professor. “Can you stop that?” 

“Sorry sir,” he responded, lowering his head and putting his pen down, placing his hands in his lap. He felt Renjun rubbing his back to the side of him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. Kangmin flashed his roommate and small smile and nodded. He wasn’t going to hurt his friend, he was sure it was just everything that had been happening recently that had left Renjun on edge. That had to be it. 

Kangmin also found himself counting down the days left of choir auditions in his composition book. He’d taken it upon himself to write ‘6’ and cross it out. 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 were written in a bubbly font and were ready to be crossed out as each day came along. He was lipstick ready if anything happened and he knew how weird that sounded. He hadn’t told any of his friends of his late night adventures cleaning up corpses with Nahyun. He smiled to himself as he remembered. 

 

~

 

_”I’m locking the door again,” Renjun announced. Kangmin made a noise in response as he rolled over in his bed, plugging in headphones and listening to something. Renjun walked over and pulled one of the headphones out. “You’ve got to be ready in case someone comes banging on our door,” he was told._

Kangmin sat up in his bed, noticing how Renjun was gone. What game was his roommate trying to play? He could leave the room but Kangmin couldn’t? What was he trying to protect him from? He let out an audible sigh as he pulled himself from his bed.

He checked over his desk, shoving his lipstick into his pocket.

“What was that?” Renjun asked from behind Kangmin, causing the other boy to jump.

“Something a friend gave me, jeez,” Kangmin responded, brushing down his arms, “you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry,” Renjun responded walking over to Kangmin and leaning his head on his shoulder. Kangmin let a smile creep up on his face before pulling back. 

“We’ve got class,” he told Renjun, grabbing his bag and leaving the room with his roommate close behind.

 

~

 

Kangmin was starting to believe Renjun was watching him sleep. He never noticed the boy slept with his eyes open, last he checked he wore an eye mask. 

“Renjun, what is your problem?” Kangmin asked, sitting up in bed and folding his legs.

“I just want to keep you safe,” Renjun responded, using his arms to lean further up before shuffling against his pillow. 

“From what?” Kangmin asked, folding his arms, “I can take care of myself you know.”

“No, you can’t Kangmin, you don’t know what’s out there,” his roommate responded, leaning forward to grab the other boy’s arm, Kangmin pulled back.

“You think I don’t?” he answered, “I’ve been through hell these past few days, witnessed several murders and even committed one myself.” Kangmin stopped himself, taking a couple of deep breaths upon realisation of what he just said. It sank in that he didn’t care as much anymore. The topic wasn’t a big deal. 

He'd seen so much of it he was beginning to desensitise. This world was doing things to him.

“You…killed someone…you didn’t tell me?” Renjun said, leaning back. Kangmin scanned the boy’s face to see him full of hurt. He could see the boy biting his lip then running his hands over his face. “Fine, you want to know what’s out there, I’ll show you.”

Renjun pulled a jacket on and shoved his shoes on and Kangmin simply followed, no questions asked. He pulled his jacket on, making sure his lipstick was in his pocket. “Just in case,” Kangmin muttered to himself.

“You haven’t seen the worst of it,” Renjun responded, grabbing Kangmin’s arm and pulling him along. He felt the tight grip of his roommate and tried to pull back.

“Jeez Renjun,” he started, “let go, you’re hurting me.” Kangmin struggled against his roommate as he was pulled along the corridor and along the campus, he was dragged into the auditorium before being pushed through the doors. Kangmin stumbled through his first couple of steps before laying his eyes on people with scissors and knives, forks and their bare hands, attacking each other. 

“Do you see?” Renjun whispered, putting his arm around Kangmin, “what I’m trying to protect you from?”

Kangmin could see something. But he wasn’t sure it was that. He didn’t feel threatened in that immediate moment, watching as screams were pulled from peoples’ throats, as maniacal laughter filled the air and the stench of fresh blood entered his nose. He didn’t feel sick. He took a couple of deep breaths and leaned against Renjun watched as students pulled back and eyed them up before shrugging and continuing their work. 

Their auditions. 

He watched as one girl grabbed one of the other girls from behind and struggled against her. 

“Most wait until night,” Renjun continued as the pair watched the scene played out. Hair was being pulled, kicks were being given. But the second girl won in mere seconds. Her second victim of the evening. Maybe it was her third, Kangmin couldn’t tell from her bloodstained shirt and the trickles running down her face. 

“Can we go for a walk?” Kangmin asked in hushed tones, leading Renjun out of the room. His roommate complied, so, they began their late night stroll through the corridors. They’d reached the top floor near the men’s bathrooms before they heard another set of footsteps behind them.

“Huang Renjun!” they heard a feminine voice shout, “you ready?” Renjun turned to Kangmin, smiling at him before stepping away and walking towards the petite girl holding a screwdriver in her hand. She’d already got a patch of red liquid on her face and was smiling brightly. Renjun tilted his head as Kangmin watched him eye her up before gesturing her forward. She charged at him and his roommate moved out of the way. She stopped, turning and cricked her neck, “fine then, have it your way.” She ran at him again, grabbing one of Renjun’s wrists and moving her screwdriver with the other hand. Renjun grabbed her wrist in turn and began attempting to twist it. She let go and ducked down, sweeping her legs underneath and knocking him over before climbing on top of him and attempting to thrust the screwdriver down. Kangmin heard a sharp hiss from his roommate and watched as his struggled to hold her back. 

He couldn’t take this anymore.

Kangmin removed the lid from the lipstick, twisting up and revealing the knife before running towards the girl and forcing it into her back then pulling out quickly. She yelped in response, falling off his roommate before Kangmin climb on top of her and stabbed repeatedly into her chest watching the sprays fly into the air until he was pulled off by Renjun. 

“Hey,” he said, grabbing the knife from Kangmin’s hand. “It’s okay, she’s gone. You saved me Kangmin.” He felt Renjun pressing a kiss to his forward as he took heavy breaths. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He was pulled towards the men’s bathroom, being led over to a sink. Renjun turned on the tap and gestured for Kangmin to wash his hands, pulling a couple of paper towels out and leaving them on the side of him to use, so Kangmin followed while Renjun cleaned down his knife. 

“Pretty neat,” Renjun commented, “wherever did you get this?”

“Nahyun,” Kangmin said in monotone as he thoroughly scrubbed down his hands, drying them with the paper towel.

“Let’s not leave yet,” Renjun grabbed Kangmin’s wrist and pulled him down to the titled floor, “you need to calm down,” he told the boy as he kneeled down, patting his lap. Kangmin lay down on the floor, leaning his head in Renjun’s lap and closing his eyes. “You were amazing,” Renjun whispered, pressing another kiss to Kangmin’s head before letting him rest for a second. The boy let himself relax against his roommate, hearing the sound of the tap.

_Drip._

_Drop._

“I’m proud of you Kangmin,” Renjun whispered.

_Drip._

_Drop._

He heard the boy’s arm moving as his clothes ruffled.

_Drip._

_Drop._

“It’s such a shame,” Renjun spoke.

**Drip.**

Before Kangmin could feel anything press against his throat, his eyes shot open and he grabbed his roommate’s arm, panting heavily. He could feel him struggling against his grip.

“You were never going to tell me, were you?” Kangmin questioned, twisting Renjun’s arm in his hand and hearing the knife drop to the floor, grabbing it quickly with his other hand and shuffling away from Renjun, kneeling opposite him and scanning his roommate.

“I mean,” Renjun shrugged, smirking at the boy, “I guess this is me telling you. Kim Kangmin, you’re my target.”

“Why…were you so…” Kangmin gripped the knife tightly in his hand, cowering before his roommate. 

“Nice to you? Possessive?” Renjun finished the boy’s question for him. “I needed an easy target. Honestly, you weren’t even my target to start, I got him on day 2.” Kangmin felt his world begin to collapse, “then I got the guy with your name while you were being buddy with Choi Junhong.” Kangmin swallowed harshly. “Then it was just a waiting game.”

“You…don’t care do you?” He eyed up his roommate feeling tears prick his eyes. “Do I mean nothing?”

“You’re sweet Kangminnie,” Renjun cooed, “but, I knew getting attached might hurt me in the long run so as soon as I saw you, you were like a deer to hunters, easy prey.”

“Well…go on then,” Kangmin started, pulling his knife away from his chest. “Come and get me,” he watched as Renjun leaned forwards, grabbing Kangmin’s arm before anything else. Kangmin winced in response as his roommate pulled his knife from his hand. 

“Well, I’ll need you to stay still,” he plunged the knife into Kangmin’s thigh, causing the boy to shut his eyes tightly before Renjun thrust his head against the floor. Kangmin yelped trying to shuffle away, kicking his good luck and his now bad leg along before reaching a corner of the room. Renjun hovered over him, wrapping his arms around his neck. Kangmin tried to pull his hands away from his throat before letting one arm drop, shakily reaching for the knife in his thigh.

 _This is gonna hurt,_ Kangmin thought, yelling as his pulled the knife out and forcing it into Renjun’s side, causing the boy to drop down to the floor.

“I knew you wouldn’t give up so easily,” Renjun coughed, attempting to pull out the knife, Kangmin pulled himself over and as Renjun’s eyes were cast on the sharp implement, he punched the boy in the face, causing him to hiss. Kangmin pulled the knife out and forced it back into his stomach before pulling it along quickly and watching his abdomen open up. Kangmin let the knife then hit the ground and used one of the sinks to pull himself up. He watched as Renjun took in shaky breaths. As he casts his eyes down. As he cast his eyes back up to Kangmin.

And as he took his last breath and the life left his eyes. 

The boy kept his eyes on him for a while before feeling his throat constrict and tears run from his eyes. He pulled himself along the sinks, throwing himself at the door and pushing it open. He used the wall as a guide, limping along as he cried, as he let out profanities. He made it halfway to the stairs before he saw a figure in front of him in his blurred vision.

“Kangmin,” he heard a muffled voice, “it’s okay now,” he felt arms wrap around him. “It’s me, Taeseon.” Kangmin buried his face against him and wailed, struggling to catch his breath. “That leg must hurt, huh?” He heard him say as he felt a hand run through his hair. Kangmin wrapped his arms tightly around Taeseon, clinging to his shirt as he panted heavily, looking down at his leg, “shh, it’s okay.”

He finally went quiet when he passed out.


	4. Part 2: Stacatto, Chapter 4: Dolce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what now?

Kangmin was in and out of consciousness for three days. The leg would heel with time he was told, the knife wasn’t deep enough to have done any lasting damage. The shock however, took a couple of days to get over. Sleep was recommended under nurses’ orders. He saw his friends and upperclassmen drift in and out to check on him but couldn’t remember much of the conversations he’d held.

The next minute he knew, it was Saturday evening. The ‘auditions’ were over.

Kangmin had passed his audition. He was now a member of the choir. The academy’s esteemed individuals who chose to murder to gain some kind of perk around the academy. 

It was Taeseon to deliver the news. 

“You did it Kangmin,” he spoke softly, running his hand over the smaller boy’s hair, “you got in.”

“Did you…lose anyone?” Kangmin asked with a sore throat, still recovering from the crying fits he’d been having the past few days.

“No, we’re all safe,” Taeseon told him. They held eye contact for a moment before Taeseon leaned in and pressed a kiss to Kangmin’s forehead, “I’m so glad you did it.”

“Me too,” Kangmin said solemnly, reaching up to grab Taeseon’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I…”

“You don’t have to talk about it, it seemed… traumatic,” Taeseon told the smaller boy, giving a gentle squeeze in return.

“I will one day,” Kangmin responded, nodding to himself.

“And I’ll be there to listen when you do,” Taeseon reassured, helping the smaller boy sit up in bed and passed him a drink of water. The pair sat in a comfortable silence for a while as Kangmin played with Taeseon’s fingers, taking occasional sips of water. 

 

~

 

Kangmin got to leave the nurse’s office on Sunday. His leg was still healing but she recommended he began to walk around on it, albeit slowly. He’d be dosed up on painkillers and with help of Taeseon and friends, he was brought out of the office.

“You’ve got a new room,” Hakmin told Kangmin excitedly, a bright smile on his face. 

“I do?” Kangmin asked, looking between his group of newfound friends in confusion. They all held similar smiles, apart from Taeseon. He was softer, calmer than the rest of them. 

“I’ll explain afterwards,” he whispered to him as they led the boy up the stairs. 

“We wanted to save you the grief,” Jihun explained as he led the group towards the end of the corridor. Kangmin knew this corridor. He looked to the side and saw Youngjae’s room, turning around to see the familiar sight of Nahyun’s doorway with her name painted on the front, which Kangmin wasn’t sure was new or he’d never noticed in the low light. He cast his eyes around, looking to Taeseon who was helping him walk. He saw Hayoung open the door and move to the side, allowing the tallest of the group to guide the smallest through the door and into his new bedroom.

 _The room next to me is empty, I’m excited to see who’ll make a call for it this year, usually no one._ Kangmin heard Youngjae’s words ring in his ears. He tilted his head slightly as he sat himself down on his new bed. 

“It’s two single beds pushed together,” Hayoung said as he walked through, “in case you’d like a roommate,” he said, nudging Taeseon and grinning at him. 

“It’s up to him,” Taeseon asserted, giving Hayoung a look that made him back down quickly. “We’ll leave you to get settled in.”

Kangmin watched as the group filed out of his room, with Taeseon closing the door before Kangmin reached out, “can you…stay for a bit?”

“Yeah sure,” Taeseon smiled softly, turning to the boys to stay something before coming into Kangmin’s room and shutting the door behind him, pulling the chair by the desk around and sitting on it.

 

~

 

Kangmin decided keeping Taeseon as his roommate was a good idea. His first night in the bed still consisted of reoccurring nightmares and Taeseon was there to hold him every time he woke up. It was the third time when they decided getting up would be easier. They got ready and Taeseon helped Kangmin make his way over to the auditorium. They watched as what was left of the first years filed in, including his friends which joined them pair by pair. Hohyeon sat the other side of Kangmin, flashing him a smile before turning towards the stage.

Professor Hyosung walked on alone and waited for the room to fill up some more before beginning.

“I see our numbers certainly have shrunk this year,” she started, casting her eyes over the room. “Not the worst,” she hummed. “Before we begin our finalisation of the initiation, let’s hold a moment of silence for those who didn’t make it, shall we?” The room remained silent as the first few faces were cast onto the screen. Gahyeon being the first. The slides went on some before Kangmin saw the face of his first victim.

Choi Bomin.

His target.

 _Choi Bomin has been eliminated._ The voice rang in his ears. He scrunched his eyes shut for a moment, remembering the times the face haunted him through his classes, through the corridors, in his dreams. He leaned his head against Taeseon’s shoulder and let out a sigh, relaxing as the taller boy pulled him closer, putting his arm around him. 

The next familiar face Kangmin saw was further along was the girl who tried to attack Renjun, Lee Jinsuk alongside Renjun himself. Kangmin cast his eyes down to the floor as he saw their faces, taking a deep breath. He felt a gentle squeeze from Taeseon, turning to see him smiling warmly at him. 

“Okay,” Hyosung spoke once the memorial had finished, “who’s ready for the next step, the important step that shape your next three years.”

He saw the second years and third years begin to walk on stage, all with their hands behind their backs. 

“When one of the students calls your name, you follow them, no questions asked,” the professor informed, glancing around the room. “You’ll learn what’s to be done.” Kangmin watched as names were called and people began filing out the room. As Hakmin practically skipped to follow Jongup. As Hohyeon left his side when Youngjae called upon him. As Taeseon followed Sumin. Kangmin was almost the last one in the room when Nahyun approached him and held her hand out. 

“Looks like you’re stuck with me,” she commented, wrapping her arm around him and helping him backstage. He saw a series of small rooms set up to the sides of him, being led into one by Nahyun. Before him he saw another first year, tied up to a pole, head hanging low, looking up at him slowly, meekly. He noticed all of the cuts, both deep and small, decorating his arms, his legs, his torso, his neck. It was a wonder he was still alive. “He didn’t finish his audition on time,” she informed Kangmin, leaning him against a wall and slowly pacing over to the stray of sharp implements. “I brought something, just for you Kangminnie,” she giggled, picking up something out of Kangmin’s sight before turning to him and passing him the pen knife. It was ingrained with paw prints and a little puppy on the hilt. Kangmin couldn’t help but smile at the cute object. 

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Kangmin asked, playing with the feeling of the knife sliding up and down in his hand. 

“Create a signature, I show you mine, you show me yours,” she said, taking a familiar looking lipstick tube out of her pocket, flashing Kangmin a smile before sliding it along one of the boy’s cheeks, taking her finger and running it along. She walked up to the wall and wrote ‘花’ against the wall. “Hana means one in Korean sure,” she started as she wrote the character, “but it also means flower in Japanese,” she said finishing it off with a small flower underneath. “Your turn,” she walked over, offering to help Kangmin walk over but he shook his head.

“I should finish this by myself, right?” he said, limping over to the boy and holding up his knife. He looked into the boy’s eyes, which looked back, wordlessly. Kangmin frowned letting his arm drop to his side before looking over his cuts in more detail. “You’re not far off now,” he said, looking at the colour of his skin, “let me help,” he said. The boy’s eyes lit up, a small smile forming on his lips before he hissed. Kangmin pulled his knife back up and pressed it to the boy’s neck, “not like that.” He quickly pulled it across, watching the light fade from the boy’s eyes before his head dropped. Nahyun giggled from behind him, Kangmin turning towards her and smiling before running his finger along the cut. He glanced at his finger, twisting his lips before pressing his hand against the gash. He limped over to the wall, decorated in bloody signatures before pressing the palm of his hand to the wall then drawing small circles above the palm. He wrote his name underneath, like every first year seemingly had. 

“A paw?” Nahyun mused, grabbing the white towel spotted in red from the table and passing it to Kangmin, “I’d say it suits a puppy well.”

“I’m glad you agree,” Kangmin covered his mouth with his clean hand as he let out a small laugh. Nahyun returned to wrapping her arm around the first year and helping him walk out of the room and back to the auditorium, passing him back to Taeseon. The auditorium filled back up, with the second and third year students taking the remaining seats. Professor Hyosung returned to the stage with all the other professors before she went up to the podium.

“Well, that’s it, you’re all members now,” she said, a wide smile on her face, “all that’s left to be said is ‘welcome to the choir’. Remember,” she continued, “this doesn’t guarantee your safety.”

 

~

 

Classes resumed as normal the next day with Kangmin limping his way around campus, being helped by friends. He found himself looking to the side of him during composition classes and sighing to himself at the empty space. 

“You know,” Hohyeon started over lunch. Kangmin sat at a big table with the rest of his new group. “Out of all of us, Kangmin has the most kills to his name.” The rest of the table cheered loudly, enough to get shushed by other people in the room. All except Taeseon, who remained silent, smiling at the boy in question. 

“You say that like that’s a good thing,” Kangmin muttered while playing with his food.

“It was survival instinct, no?” Jisung asked while Wooyeop passed the smaller boy some extras on his plate.

Was it? 

That was what Kangmin told himself originally. When he’d gotten Bomin it certainly was, there was no other way out of the situation. An orchestrated situation.

With Jinsuk? He was saving his friend…who he later realised didn’t need saving. He could’ve cut out the middle man and left her to what she was doing but that was in hindsight, it was nothing Kangmin could do anything about.

Renjun…Kangmin had a fleeting moment in his head of ‘what if’. What if he’d let himself be killed by Renjun all for the sake of friendship. For the sake of a lingering flutter Kangmin still felt every time he thought about the boy. Had Kangmin had feelings for him? Truly? Or was it just him telling himself that because he was his first friend? 

He felt Taeseon run one of his hands through his hair, pulling the smaller boy out of his head and into the moment. 

“I’d…say so,” Kangmin finally answered, looking at Jisung and flashing a small smile. 

 

~

 

Kangmin was watching Taeseon’s sleeping face after waking up in the middle of the night. He hadn’t had a nightmare, to his relief, he’d just woken up. He was watching the taller boy’s chest rise and fall, watching his mouth release small breaths.

Kangmin was feeling awfully sentimental in that moment.

He realised how creepy he was being when Taeseon eventually opened his eyes and stared right back at him.

“Yes?” Taeseon questioned, a grin appearing on his face. Kangmin took a second, opened his mouth slightly, pressed his lips back together.

Then ultimately decided to roll over and wrap the covers around himself.

“Hey!” Taeseon shouted, trying to pull the covers off from the smaller boy, who was clinging on with all his might. The taller boy reached under and tickled the smaller boy’s sides until he let go before pulling to covers over himself and wrapping his arm around Kangmin’s middle. “There we go.” Kangmin felt his cheeks heat up as he began to catch his breath, a big smile on his face, relaxing into the taller boy’s hold. 

“I guess,” Kangmin snuggled under the covers.

 

~

 

Kangmin had something on his mind. It had been there since he woke up. It was there while he was in class. It was there over lunch. 

Now while he was sat listening to his friends conversations, it was bugging him.

_Choi Bomin has been eliminated._

That voice was familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The tone was something he hadn’t heard before. 

“Are you okay Kangmin?” he heard the same voice say, turning to the man who’d just placed his hand on his shoulder in a familiar fashion, turning to see Taeseon before him. He opened his mouth to respond, looking his friend up and down. “Need a minute?” He was asked, giving a nod in response. Taeseon led the smaller boy out of the room and towards a corridor. “What’s wrong?”

“Choi Bomin has been eliminated,” Kangmin responded in a quiet voice, not looking into Taeseon’s eyes.

“Sorry, what?” Taeseon asked, looking at the smaller and placing his hands on his shoulders. Kangmin looked into his eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Choi Bomin has been eliminated,” he repeated, mimicking the tone of voice he heard that day. The cold, collected tone of voice. Kangmin could picture Taeseon’s figure moving away from the other side of the curtain.

“You figured it out,” Taeseon said, avoiding Kangmin’s eyes and leaning back against the wall, “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“I woke up just as you were leaving,” Kangmin told him, glancing around the corridor, “care to explain? Now?”

“I can explain later,” Taeseon started, looking into Kangmin’s eyes. The smaller boy was about to protest before Taeseon placed a finger on his mouth, “there’s other people involved in this, not just me, can you trust me?” Kangmin gently grabbed Taeseon’s hand, taking it into his own and letting it drop, intertwining their fingers. “Thank you. I’ll…we’ll explain everything, later.”

“Later,” Kangmin repeated, nodding slowly. He could feel himself getting pulled into his thoughts, every attempt was being stopped by Taeseon keeping him grounded. Keeping him present. He couldn’t help but lean into him while they walked back to the cafeteria.

 

~

 

Later came soon enough. 

Taeseon sat Kangmin down on his bed and got his phone out, texting someone and waiting for something to happen. He then moved up to sit besides Kangmin while waiting for the other person or people to arrive. After a few moments, there was a knock at the door.

“It’s open,” Taeseon shouted. Kangmin leaned forward slightly as he watched the door open. Kim Nahyun walking in with a smile on her face.

“Hey I got the text, are we waiting for the others?” she asked, sitting on the end of the bed, across from the boys. 

“Yup, we’re going to explain everything,” Taeseon responded. Kangmin looked between the two, very confused. 

The next knock and Choi Junhong walked in, choosing to lean against one of the walls and flashing Kangmin a reassuring smile. 

The last to walk in was Yoo Youngjae, taking the chair from under the desk and turning it to face Kangmin. Junhong walked towards the door making sure it was locked before turning back to his spot. 

“What would you like to know Kangmin?” Youngjae asked, crossing one leg over the other and using it to lean his arms over his knee, using his hand as a resting post. 

“Uh,” Kangmin hesitated, looking between his four friends, pressing his lips together before saying, “everything?” He watched as the group collectively looked between themselves. Nahyun shrugged, wiggling her fingers in a ‘no’ fashion. Junhong waved his hands in front of his face and shook his head quickly. Youngjae gave Taeseon a stern look, which resulted in Taeseon letting out a long sigh.

“Fine, I’ll start,” Taeseon turned towards Kangmin, “as you can see, we were all working together…to keep you safe.” Kangmin narrowed his eyes at the boy, remembering everything he was subject to. Taeseon could see the boy’s mind working and turned to Youngjae, gesturing for help.

“When I found out there was a scholarship student joining us in the new year, which by the way, is pretty uncommon,” Youngjae started, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms, “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy when I saw ‘music’ next to their name, your name Kangmin. Choir auditions are mandatory for music students, so I had to rope in help.”

“First was me,” Junhong put his hand up slightly before putting his foot against the wall, “when we were giving you the tour, Youngjae pointed you out in the crowd and told me what was up.”

“Next was me,” Nahyun joined, smiling apologetically at the younger boy, “after our little conversation in the cafeteria, Youngjae pulled me aside and asked for my help. I couldn’t say no.”

“Finally was me,” Taeseon finished, “the jam session was organised by Youngjae in order for me to find out who you were, not that working with you was planned or anything,” he finished, making sure Kangmin understood.

“But, why help me?” Kangmin asked, looking between the group.

“Trust me when I say, we had a lot more safety nets in place,” Youngjae stated, shifting in his seat, “but I was pleasantly surprised to find out you only needed a little nudge.”

“The plan was simple,” Nahyun carried on, “keep a close eye on you and if you needed help or saving, butt in and get you out.”

“We’d even intentionally chosen who would target you,” Junhong said somewhat cheerfully, “but we didn’t anticipate Huang Renjun being the way he was.”

“A pain in the ass?” Youngjae asked, huffing. Kangmin blinked a couple of times, looking between them. Once he locked eyes with Youngjae again, he continued. “There are cameras all around the campus. I had my laptop hooked up to the system every evening to make sure I knew _exactly_ what was going on. As soon as I saw Huang Renjun trying to find out what the commotion was and disappearing out of the camera’s line of sight, I knew he knew.”

“He always had an agenda when he got here, when he saw you,” Taeseon said. “I remember meeting him at a business party before the year started and he mentioned it back then.”

Kangmin waited a moment for what ‘it’ was, reaching for Taeseon’s hand.

“That kid’ll be easy picking you know,” Taeseon turned to Kangmin, looking him in the eyes, “that’s what he said.” Kangmin felt shivers down his spine, swallowing hard in response. “You proved him wrong, I’m proud of you.” The taller boy smiled softly, placing his hand over the top of Kangmin’s. 

“Huang Renjun killed the guy we set up,” Junhong continued, letting out a sigh and closing his eyes for a moment, “while you were waiting for him, while I took you out of the corridor. The next time I saw him, I just knew his plan, I told the others.”

“It was why when you saw me and Nahyun late at night, we were on high alert,” Youngjae informed the younger boy, looking to Nahyun who nodded in response.

“We know the auditorium was dangerous, from experience,” Nahyun rolled her eyes, “do people here never change?”

“It was my playground during our audition,” Youngjae laughed in response, “such a fun year.”

Kangmin had never let it sink in that Youngjae and Nahyun auditioned the same year as each other. Junhong would have the year after alongside his fellow students. Then the next realisation dawned on Kangmin, turning to Taeseon quickly.

“Wait, when did you kill your target?” Kangmin asked. Taeseon broke out into a grin, covering his mouth while he laughed, his shoulders bouncing up and down. 

“You just thought to ask that?” Taeseon responded, “in the first week. Me and the rest of the boys made sure none of us had each other as a target so we could work together. If one of us saw one of the names on our list, we’d give the right person a push in their direction.”

“What about…Choi Bomin?” Kangmin looked between the group, watching them glance between themselves.

“It was a set up,” Youngjae answered straight away, “I got Nahyun to grab his number and text him after I text her.”

“So me,” Kangmin stopped himself, “so you getting me to,” he stopped again. 

“That was mostly you,” Youngjae told him, “I was impressed.”

 

~

 

Kangmin had been sat in class tapping his pen against the table until lunch.

He was still bothered. Left with so many unanswered questions. He wanted to know what brought them all together outside of Youngjae recruiting them. How did they fall on each other’s paths?

He was aimlessly wandering the corridors when he stumbled upon Junhong and Jongup practicing a dance. The boy walked into the practice room, finding himself a spot by one of the mirrors, leaving himself unaware of the boys.

Or so he thought.

Kangmin could feel Jongup’s eyes on him. 

“Ignore him, my brother can be like that,” Hakmin said, sitting next to him and smiling brightly, offering his water bottle. Kangmin shook his head, watching the way Junhong and Jongup moved together. 

“What do you mean ‘like that’?” Kangmin asked Hakmin, tilting his head.

“Possessive,” Hakmin commented, “not with me but with Junhong. He treats him like a statue, one of those old ones you can find in museums that are behind glass cabinets.” 

“How come?” Kangmin questioned, watching as Junhong and Jongup stopped dancing. As Jongup walked behind Junhong, wrapping his arms around his waist and leaning his head against his back.

“Hell if I know, I leave him to do what he wants,” Hakmin replied, standing up, “I’m gonna go find Hyunwoo, I’ll see you round.”

With that, Kangmin was left on his own, watching Junhong finally realise he was in the room.

“Kangmin!” Junhong ran towards the boy and sat down in front of him, crossing his legs and smiling brightly. “What brings you here?” Jongup brought himself next to the taller boy, leaning his head against his shoulder.

“I have a question,” Kangmin started, avoiding eye contact, “if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Go ahead,” Junhong responded, leaning his head against Jongup’s.

“How did you…get into the choir?” Kangmin asked, looking at the older boy and his significant other. He saw the hesitation in Junhong’s eyes, the flash of concern that passed over his face before he turned to Jongup who nodded quickly before Junhong turned back.

“I think I should gather the others,” Junhong said, “can we,” he looked at Jongup, “or I, come to your room tonight with the others to talk about it?”

 

~

 

Junhong came alone, Kangmin noted, followed by a concerned looking Nahyun and a stoic faced Youngjae. The trio sat down on the floor while Taeseon brought Kangmin next to him and held his waist.

“Kangmin, can you repeat what you asked me earlier?” Junhong requested of the younger boy.

The boy looked between the other three faces, pressing his lips together for a moment before letting them pop slightly.

“How did you all,” he hesitated, “get into the choir?”

Nahyun let out a shaky sigh while Youngjae twisted his lips. Taeseon physically tensed next to Kangmin. 

“Sorry if you don’t want to answer,” Kangmin quickly covered up as he glanced between his friends. 

“It’s okay Kangmin,” Youngjae joined in, “I understand the curiosity and think you deserve answers.”

“Well,” Junhong looked between them, “with all that being said.”

I guess I’ll start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry the chapter is short and not much happens >.<


End file.
